


A Seer's Job Is Never Done

by The_Firebird



Category: My Babysitter's A Vampire
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ethan is good at lying, I LOVE IT TOO MUCH TO BE HEALTHY, I just feel like they would encounter more violence than just Sarah kicking and punching, I'm probably gonna go out of order, ITS ON NETFLIX, M/M, Made up lore, Magic, Making Out, My First Work in This Fandom, Not Canon Compliant, Seers, This is just a big ploy to give it a better ending than it got, Visions, YOU NEED TO WATCH THIS STUFF, You can all fight me on this, but like people are trying to kill them, god bless grandma, how do I summary, like seriously, more cussing in this than canon because this is a more realistic look at high school, not that she isn't badass, okay this turned out a lot more violent than I thought it would, sorta canon compliant, vampire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-17
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-05-24 07:44:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14950505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Firebird/pseuds/The_Firebird
Summary: Ethan has always been able to see into the future. This is just pretty much taking you through the movie and every episode with a slightly over-protective Ethan whose main goal in life is just to keep Benny safe, no matter what. I am going to take over some creative license and change a lot about the episodes and visions, probably. Just to keep the story consistent. You'll see, just read.Also: when I skip an episode, I'll put something in its place to keep things consistent. And I am going to change the kind of setup for some of the episodes, especially the ones I make up, because I am not nearly as creative as the creators of this wonderful showUpdate (literally 4 hours later): I can't think of any way to put my writing style except for it might take a turn to kinda look like Supernatural, just in the chapter setup and some little things you might catch here or there if you've ever seen the show





	1. Blame it On The Stars (Andy Grammar)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Love Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6110555) by [sinplicity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sinplicity/pseuds/sinplicity). 
  * Inspired by [Guardians](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1994220) by [SpencerRemyLvr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpencerRemyLvr/pseuds/SpencerRemyLvr). 



> What? No I am not 10 and yes I love this series. Anybody can fight me on this, I've got 3 vamps, a seer and a wizard on my side :)
> 
> I made up all of the seer stuff. Don't take this for real lore.
> 
> Also: I got really lazy so instead of writing out Benny's Grandma the whole time, I just wrote Grandma, because I figure that she's such an integral part of the show that she is pretty much all of their grandma mentors.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes you need a reason  
> A bit of a love you can believe in  
> A little hug, a little big dreamin’  
> Apparently there’s some correlation between   
> Hearts and outer space  
> And all I’m really trying to say is  
> ...  
> We like to think that we’ll weigh in  
> On a previous reservation  
> It’s all written in the constellations   
> Now I don’t know, but either do you  
> Truth is, its a good excuse  
> For both our hearts to let loose

Ethan had always had visions. His parents didn’t know, had never known, he’d never told anyone out of fear of having one more thing to be bullied for or not being believed. He first discovered it when he was out shopping with his mom and they got separated. He had gone up to lady with a little boy in tow, one Ethan had seen at the park and in class. 

He went up to the lady, and asked her to help him find his mother, and she agreed with him easily, taking his hand and guiding him to the front desk. When they first touched, Ethan had seen this lady and her husband being killed, and a newspaper with the next day’s date. The lady had been confused about why he had stopped dead in his tracks, and stared at her, but he just blindly followed until they reached the desk and Ethan’s mom came up, frantically searching for her son.

 

“Oh my god, thank you so much for bringing him here.” his mom had said as she approached, pushing a stroller with his baby sister.

 

“It’s really no problem, I would hope someone would do the same for my Benny if it ever happened.”

 

“Hey, mom?” Ethan asked. “Can we have Benny over tomorrow?” The other boy looked surprised, but still looked between their parents in hope.

 

“Would that be okay? I’ve been wanting Ethan to get out more, but he doesn’t have many friends at school.”

 

“It would be great, actually. My babysitter cancelled on us and we were hoping we wouldn’t have to cancel our date night.”

 

“Works out perfectly, then. I’m Samantha, by the way.”

 

“I’m Shelly…” Ethan had started to tune out as they talked about times and phone numbers and things. 

 

“So, what do you like to do?” Ethan asked Benny, who seemed like that was all he needed to be able to talk about video games for hours. The two were fast friends, and the young seer didn’t know why, but he had a very strong urge to protect the other boy, from what Benny didn’t know would happen and could be prevented.

 

Ethan somehow knew that if his new friend was at home the next day, that he would walk in on his parents being killed, he knew that something horrible would happen to the bright, bubbly boy in front of him. 

 

* * *

 

The next day had Ethan preparing for every outcome, but when the time came, he never expected Benny’s grandmother coming to pick him up early. They had been having fun, so it was expected that the guest argue to stay the full time, the surprising thing came when his grandma pulled him onto the sidewalk and told him something, something Ethan had known was coming. 

 

Benny’s eyes filled with tears at the news that his parents were dead, even as he yelled at his grandma that she was lying and ran back into the house, running straight into Ethan and holding him tight. 

 

The same thing that had happened the day before, happened again. He saw a series of images, the two of them in their teenage years, being best friends, the little antics that made them so close in the future. Ethan knew immediately that he wanted that future. 

 

While Ethan was comforting the sobbing boy in his arms, his parents ushered his grandma in the house, and they had an adult conversation while Ethan and Benny just sat in silence in the former’s room, it was a long while before either of them spoke. 

 

“My mom and dad are dead.” He whispered, as if just coming to the realization.

 

“I know.”

 

“They aren’t there anymore….. They won’t have anymore date nights….. Or take forever getting out of the store if they see a friend….. E, they aren’t there anymore.”

 

“I’m really sorry…” 

 

They sat in silence until Ethan’s mom came to tell Benny that he needed to go home, Benny dragged his feet out the door.

 

* * *

 

The two of them were fast friends after that. They practically lived with each other and, once Benny had settled into his grandma’s house, they spent more time together than separated. It turned out that they only lived about a street away from each other and got the go ahead to walk to and from school together, if it wasn’t raining or snowing. 

 

Ethan continued to get visions through the years, yet nobody knew but him, and he got better at covering them up. It was weird, though. He only got them when they pertained to Benny. He would brush by a wall at school and see some of their bullies in a few turns, and know to avoid that hallway.

 

That didn’t mean that they never got pushed around, though. Sometimes Ethan wasn’t fast enough to avoid the mean kids, or he would be getting beat up while watching Benny get beat up. He wanted to protect Benny in any way he could, but he couldn’t protect him from everything.

 

And Benny knew something was up, he had always known. Ever since that first day in the supermarket, he knew something was….different about Ethan. There was an air of abnormal around him, not the kind you get that tells you ‘avoid them, they’re trouble’, more the kind that says ‘something’s weird, but something great can come out of it’. He noticed the times he would touch something, go still for a minute, and change direction. Or when he just knew if something bad had happened after patting Benny on the back or shoulder. There was a lot of weird around the two of them, but Benny didn’t think he would ever be able to let go even if he wanted to. 

 

The two of them had been through so much, and they had a bond that could never be defined, the kind of relationship that could so easily turn in any way and it would surprise nobody. 

 

* * *

 

Benny’s grandma was smarter than she looked, and she wasn’t at all surprised when Ethan came over one day when Benny was in detention…. Again. 

 

“Grandma? I have to tell you something and you can’t tell Benny or my parents.”

 

“What do you need, dear?”

 

“I think I might be crazy…. Or psychic….. Or, I don’t know, magic?” She snorted at that last one. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I see things when I touch things sometimes and things…...things come true. They have never once been wrong.”

 

“Sit down, sweetheart.” She said, and he did, he had had a feeling that she would know the answer. “You’re not crazy or magic.”

 

“I’m psychic?”

 

“Not really, not in the way you’re thinking. You’re not going to be able to open a booth and tell someone their future. Most of those people are phony anyways. You’re a seer.”

 

“A seer? Wouldn’t that just be someone who….sees?”

 

“Well, yes. But you see special things. It’s a Gift only a few people have. It’s a dying…. Well I don’t want to say race but I guess you could describe it like that.”

 

“Why are there so few…. Seers… in the world?”

 

“There were some bad people who took advantage of the Gift, so the Gift chooses more carefully now. Seers are given an objective. Usually it’s tied to a person, and most of the time it’s just a feeling they get.”

 

“Like wanting to protect someone?”

 

“Exactly, dear. Now, who are you supposed to protect?”

 

“I think it’s Benny. But I don’t know what from, it’s just this…. Feeling I get. When I ….see… things, they always surround him. And I would rather get beat within an inch of my life than see him get hit again. Is that weird?”

 

“Maybe for somebody else, but not for a seer. Seers have been known to do extraordinary things to finish their objective. Like, for example, there was a seer who had the objective of protecting a queen, many years ago, centuries ago. While the castle was being raided, the seer, stripped of his armor, still ended up defeating everyone who tried to get near the queen through his knowledge of the castle and his ability to think on the spot.”

 

“Wow. What happened with the raiders?”

 

“Oh, their army was never powerful enough to come even close to the kingdom. It would be like a house cat fighting a bear, but there were some corrupt soldiers that were bribed to lead the invaders to the queen. That’s another thing about seers, most of them cannot be bribed or corrupted into going against their objective.”

 

Ethan gulped. “Most?”

 

“Yes, but that was back when the Gift was given to almost anybody, and some truly evil people decided that the joy of money was more important than their objective.”

 

Ethan suddenly felt queasy. “How…. how can you be sure that I won’t do it? I don’t want to turn evil and hurt Benny.”

 

“Well that’s an indicator right there. Another is how close you already are, and you easily took the objective without a fight. But right now, close your eyes, in your right mind, think about joining the bullies in beating him up, think about the bruises that form and knowing your own hands made those, and enjoying it.”

 

That was enough for Ethan to have to dart into the bathroom and empty the contents of his stomach into the toilet. Just the thought of hurting Benny made him sick, he knew now that he would never  _ choose _ to hurt his best friend, that he would rather be starved to death than ever hurt Benny. 

 

Grandma came in behind Ethan, holding a cup of mouthwash and a cup of water. He took both gratefully. “See, I trust my grandson’s life in your hands, and I wouldn’t do that with anybody else, barely even my own. I know for a fact that you would knock him out if you knew it would be protecting him from something, and I am grateful for the fact that he has the best protector in the universe.”

 

“Thanks.” Ethan didn’t trust himself to stand up right then, deciding to let the world stop spinning. “I always thought it was weird that I just wish I could be next to him all the time. I was starting to freak out about it.”

 

“There’s still some things you need to know.” She helped him up and led them back to the couch they were just sitting on. “Nearly every seer has died when their objective finished, it’s described as a feeling of complete, as long as the objective has died naturally and the seer followed their objective as best they could. But in the few cases of seers turning on their objective, it is described as one of the most painful ways to die.

 

“Now, that’s not to say there is any guarantee that you will live until Benny died or that you will die when Benny does, but that is the usual report.”

 

“Grandma, how do you know all of this?”

 

“I am an Earth Priestess,” to prove her point, she threw a plate on the floor then fixed it with magic. “My entire life has been devoted to studying this stuff. My hope is to pass on my knowledge to you and Benny before I am taken from his earth.”

 

Just then the door opened. “Hey Grandma, hey Ethan.” Benny said as he came through the door. “What’s going on?”

 

“Oh nothing.” Grandma said. “Ethan was asking me a question.”

 

“Really?” Benny said, looking at Ethan.

 

“Yeah. I didn’t understand something, it’s all cool now, don’t worry about it.” 

 

“Okay…. Oh dude, you’re never gonna believe….” Benny started on a conversation about a video game that was coming out and Ethan tried to focus on the words he was saying instead of the butterflies in his stomach.

 

* * *

 

After the whole incident with Jane being outside when Ethan was supposed to be watching her, his parents got a babysitter. The latter had a bad feeling about all of it, but his parents thought he was just opposed to getting a babysitter when he was in high school. Benny walked up to the two of them, and that protective sixth sense flared up, but it wasn’t like he could just pull Benny away from the two of them without an explanation, and it wasn’t like he could explain it, so he just sat there, watching their interaction like a hawk. He felt much better once Benny was sitting across from him again.

 

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” Rory asked as he came up to the table. 

 

“Ethan has a babysitter tonight.”

 

Ethan just rolled his eyes. “ _ Jane _ has a babysitter. That just means I can leave the house if I want tonight.”

 

* * *

 

Everything changed that night. 

 

It started with Sarah coming instead of Erica, and Ethan had a bad feeling about it the whole time. He was weary of her the whole time, hoping that things wouldn’t be as bad as he thought they would. 

 

Once Benny came over, Ethan tried to keep them separated as much as he could. He didn’t want to get them into trouble, he wanted to avoid it at all costs. When Ethan touched Sarah and saw a vision of her reflection disappearing, he was near his breaking point. 

 

He pulled her into the hall by the elbow. 

 

“What do you want, Ethan? I’m supposed to be watching your sister, not-”

 

“I know you’re a vampire.”

 

Sarah’s eyes grew wide. “What? How did you-”

 

“Relax, I’m not going to out you or anything. I just need you to get out of my house.”

 

“I can’t your mom is paying me.”

 

“I’ll give you the damn twenty bucks. Look, we just don’t want trouble. And it’s obvious you’re running from something and I don’t want whatever it is coming after-” 

 

The doorbell rang. 

 

“Finally!” Came from the other room. “You know, this took much longer than thirty minutes, I am definitely not paying!”

 

Benny opened the door, to reveal a mad looking vampire holding a box of pizza.

 

“Benny! Get away from the door!” Ethan said, getting between the vampire and his best friend, who thankfully listened to him. Then grabbed the box of pizza (thank god for extra garlic) and flung it at the vampire.

 

He turned to Sarah. “You need to go.”

 

She gave a nervous nod. “I should go find Erica anyway.” And sped away.

 

* * *

 

Why were they here? Why did they come to save Rory? Ethan should’ve known something like this would happen, given that he could see into the future. 

 

But he didn’t anticipate this. The only reason he had followed was because he knew Benny would go without him, and he was secretly wanting to try out some real-life vampire fighting instead of it always being in video games. So they stole Grandma’s car and went to the party. Completely unprepared. 

 

Things were mostly fine, up until the point where they were surrounded by vampires and they were the first ones on the menu. 

 

Like hell Ethan would let that happen. 

 

As the blood suckers were coming closer, Ethan turned and broke a wooden chair, handing Benny a stake, and he was about to throw one to Rory, but Erica was already fang-deep into his neck, and so he kept both weapons. 

 

He didn’t have any training, any skills when it came to real weapons, but Ethan knew that if anything came close to them, that they would be dead before they even looked at Benny. 

 

It was all a blur, but the next thing Ethan knew was they were in the car, and on their way home. The seer wanted to spend the night with his best friend, just to make sure he was safe and stayed safe, but knew of no way to phrase it, so he just went inside his house, Benny behind him. 

 

Grandma gave him a knowing look as they walked into the house, and pulled him into the kitchen to make him help put away the food. 

 

“Can…. can I ask you to keep an eye on him? I know you will and it’s irrational but a lot happened tonight and-”

 

“Don’t worry, dear. I’ll ward his room better than King Tut’s tomb. Now, I cleaned up that whole pizza mess, but I expect you to come up with better ways in the future, or find someone else to do it. I gave you a pass for your first adventure, but I don’t doubt this will happen again.”

 

“Thanks, Grandma.”

 

“No problem. Now, Jane is already in bed, and I’ll bet you two are tired, so I’ll take Benny home and you will see him on the way to school tomorrow.”

 

* * *

 

The next day at school brought a few revelations. Rory was now a vampire, because why not, and there was a big thing going down that night. By the time they got home from school, they knew what was going down and where. 

 

Before they went out with their holy water super soakers and their pencil-filled nerf darts, Benny’s Grandma told them something. 

 

“You’re going to need these.” She said, holding out two badass knives.

 

“What are they?” Benny asked.

 

“These are daggers that can kill a vampire in a single swipe.”

 

“Where did you get these? And how did you know about all this?” Sarah asked.

 

“I’m not an idiot. I’m an Earth Priestess, and Benny here is a wizard.”

 

“Oh, sorry buddy.” Benny said to Ethan. “Looks like you’re the only one here without super powers.”

 

“Actually… I’m a seer.”

 

That kinda stunned the room into silence. “What do you mean by ‘seer’?” Sarah asked.

 

“I mean that sometimes I can touch things or people and get visions of the future or something that I should know. And they always come true.”

 

“I knew there was something up.” Benny said.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well, ever since I first met you, you’ve done this thing where you zone out or something, and I knew you weren’t just zoning out, because you never do it in class or when something’s boring. And you look kinda freaked out most of the time.”

 

“I thought I had gotten better at hiding it.”

 

“Oh, you did. You used to stop dead in your tracks, now you can keep walking or doing what you were doing when you get one. But sometimes you whisper to yourself afterwards or during the vision or whatever you wanna call it.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Is that how you knew I was a vampire yesterday? I thought I had given myself away.”

 

“Yes, and sorry if I scared you, but I just didn’t want to get caught up in anything.”

 

“So you’ve known about this how long and didn’t think to tell me?” Benny asked, and Ethan could tell that, while he was feigning being angry, he was hurt that he wasn’t clued in. That right there hurt Ethan worse than he dared to admit. 

 

“I was trying to figure it out myself, and I didn’t mean to keep all of it from you, things were just really fast paced yesterday. And I didn’t know how to phrase it. I couldn’t just say ‘Oh, hey Benny. I just wanted to tell you that I can sometimes see the future and by the way my babysitter’s a vampire.’”

 

“Look where that got us.” Ethan actually felt a pang in his stomach, and he knew it was from the whole ‘objective’ thing Benny’s grandma had said. Just thinking about that encounter almost had him running to the bathroom again. 

 

“Benjamin.” Grandma said. “I can tell you that I am 100% sure that Ethan was trying to protect the both of you from this.”

 

“Well, I don’t need protecting!”

 

Ethan cut in. “I think I might need to excuse myself…..for the bathroom. Be right back.” He said before he nearly toppled his chair over and ran into the bathroom to hyperventilate.

 

“Benjamin. That boy needs to protect you. Here,” she said, getting out one of her old texts from the shelf. “Read this about seers. I’m going to check on your friend because I’m the only one who actually knows what’s happening.” She left for the bathroom. 

 

Benny followed his grandmother’s advice. He read the text, about how seers have and objective, and that usually means a person. He read that the seer’s visions revolve around that person’s life and how to protect them, or whatever the objective is. And how hurting their charge in anyway that wasn’t directly pertained to their safety could cause high levels of stress and pseudo-psychological pain. 

 

“What’s it about?” Sarah asked, starting to move from her seat to get a better look at the book.

 

“I don’t know if Ethan would want you reading this. Looks like Grandma only gave it to me because it directly involves me.” Benny said.

 

Sarah looked hurt for half a second before it gave way to understanding. “Okay, we all have the things we want to keep private, I guess.” She said, but Benny wasn’t listening. 

 

A lot of things made sense now, if he was right that he was Ethan’s ‘charge’. All those times he would freeze in the hallway, then turn around and take the long way to class. When he saw a bruise on Benny and it looked like it hurt worse for Ethan than it actually did on Benny. Or that one time Ethan had freaked out when he broke his arm. That had to have been torture for Ethan, especially since it was his new skateboard they were using.

 

It also explained how they became such fast friends. It said in the book that their souls fit together almost well enough to be soulmates, that they would always have found each other and there was no recorded event of the charge and seer not getting along. 

 

The connection must’ve started when they met in the store, a night that was as burned into Benny’s memory as it was in Ethan’s. When the latter stopped for a few seconds then looked at the former with understanding sadness, it had perplexed Benny until the next day, when his grandmother came to the house. That night had been one of the best and worst nights of Benny’s life. He had gained a friend and lost two parents. And Ethan had invited him over so he wouldn’t be home to witness the murders of his mother and father.

 

He had done more that night for Benny than he could have ever asked for. And he had continued to shield the wizard from attacks throughout the years. And now he was sitting in his bathroom because Benny was hurt about not knowing about something he would never have believed. He had argued against his best friend’s objective.

 

The book had said the charge refusing the seer his objective could do anything from hurt to kill the seer, depending on how heartfelt the refusal was. 

 

Ethan!

 

* * *

 

Ethan was in the bathroom, he had already thrown up his dinner and was just sitting against the wall. He wasn’t doing great, it felt like he had a fever, he couldn’t breathe, he wanted to throw up again and just curl up in the corner of the bathroom and never be found. 

 

It was then that Grandma came in with some more mouthwash and water. “He didn’t mean it, you know.” She said after a beat of silence. 

 

“I  _ know _ . But…..But….I don’t know how to describe it. It’s like somebody set me on fire from the inside….. Because he believes it. He doesn’t need me to protect him. But what can I do if I can’t do that?”

 

“You’re still Ethan Morgan, dear. You can do anything you want. He needs you, and you need him. You guys have to work through this. Because I know that everything is screaming at you all the time to protect him at all costs, but you have to know that he needs to make his own mistakes sometimes.”

 

“Does it always feel like this?”

 

“Well, you’re still young. Though if he rejects your objective, I can’t tell what it will feel like. I do know that comments and small things will not affect you the way it does now, as you grow.”

 

“I think I’m in love with him.”

 

“I don’t doubt it for a second. And I want you to know you have my full support.”

 

Ethan couldn’t even respond. It felt like his oxygen was being taken away. The door behind Grandma burst open and it was Benny. “Well, this is my que to leave.” She said as she was walking out the door. 

 

“Ethan? Ethan, come on I’m alive, if you die then who’s gonna get me through this?” Benny asked. 

 

It helped, Benny being there, just a bit. He felt like he could breathe again. Then Benny did something that helped a whole lot, he grabbed Ethan’s hand and put it on his chest, right over his heart. 

 

Things still hurt, but with every beat, it hurt a bit less, and pretty soon Ethan didn’t feel like he was going to throw up anymore, but there was still a bone-deep ache that was left over from the whole ordeal.

 

“Sorry about that.” Ethan said.

 

Benny just laughed, it was a beautiful sound. “ _ You’re _ sorry? I just almost killed you and  _ you’re _ sorry?” He laughed again, but this time it had a worried hint to it. “I didn’t mean it. I need protecting, everything you do to protect me that I don’t notice right away doesn’t go unappreciated. Even that first time, in the store.”

 

Ethan went stiff. “You remember that?”

 

“Of course I remember that, my parents died on that night. I remember my parents being upset because they were about to miss date night. I  _ know _ that I would’ve been in that house that night, I  _ know  _ that I would’ve either been killed,” Ethan’s hold on him tightened a little bit, “or I would’ve witnessed my parent’s murders or I would’ve found them. 

 

“You saved me, Ethan. You invited me over and either saved my life or saved me the trauma of seeing my mom and dad die, of hearing whatever was going on.  _ You saved me. _ ” Benny looked at where Ethan was clutching his chest, head right over his heartbeat, the latter wasn’t meeting his eye. “E?”

 

“I still see it, sometimes.”

 

“What?”

 

“That day in the store, your mom grabbed my hand to take me to the front desk, right?” Benny nodded. “I stood there for a second, I had a vision, but I bet you could figure that out by now. I….I saw your mom and dad, and they were dead. Echos of their screams were in the background. I sometimes can still hear it, still see it.”

 

“You took on that?”

 

“I mean, I guess. I couldn’t let you just sit there and….and let you stay in a house with….with a murderer!”

 

“I never would have even thought you still had all that going on in your brain.”

 

“I have nightmares, sometimes. Sometimes I wake up and I want nothing more than to just prove to myself that you’re alive, that you’re safe. I have to stop myself, because I know that it’s weird and it’s not normal to wish I could just feel your heartbeat after the drama club comes after us.”

 

“Well, now we know that they’re vampires.” That got a small chuckle out of both of them. “Listen. I’m going to talk to Grandma about giving you a house key. I want you to know that anytime you have a nightmare, or need to prove to yourself that I’m alive or safe or whatever, I will happily accept you with open arms. I mean, you’re right, it’s not normal, but then again I’m a wizard. And I guess we’re friends with three vampires now. Who needs normal? I’d rather have you, Ethan Morgan, just as you are, without you having to suppress a whole part of yourself.”

 

“We should probably get back out there and fix the whole ‘Jesse letting out the souls of drama club past’ thing.”

 

“Ugh, fine. But I want you to know that I meant everything I said. Anytime. Wanna grab my wrist in the halls at school just cause? Go ahead. Wanna sneak into my house at three in the morning? I might think you’re an intruder the first couple of times but, yeah, sure. And I want to know when you have those nightmares, okay? Because I know it’s your job to protect me, but I care about you too. I also hate seeing you pushed around in the halls, alright?” In a spur of the moment decision, Benny pulled Ethan’s head close and gave him a short little kiss on his hairline. It was short, but it conveyed all the feelings Benny had been hiding for so long. A promise of another conversation, should they both survive the night. 

 

They walked out of the bathroom, together, Ethan having to lean on Benny just the slightest bit, still a bit weak from the incident. 

 

It doesn’t take long for Grandma to finish the explanation of what was going on, handing Ethan and Benny two daggers to kill the vampires, along with a spellbook to use on the vampires. 

 

* * *

 

It takes a while for the three of them to figure out Jesse’s plan and what exactly to do, and pretty soon they’re leaving the Dusk premier and Ethan’s getting a vision of a tree. Something about that one confuses him. Because most of his visions directly pertain to Benny and protecting him. It isn’t long before he finds out just exactly how it relates. 

 

They’ve confronted Jesse, and have tried to take the box from his hands, but now they’re both being held down by an invisible force and the eclipse is drawing near. 

 

“Oh, how convenient. I only need two more souls, and here are two perfectly good souls right here. You know what? I think I’ll take you one at a time, just so the other one has a show while they wait.”

 

Ethan could feel what was happening, even though it wasn’t happening to him. He  _ felt  _ the soul being sucked out of Benny’s body, and then felt something going through him. It was like adrenaline, but it was so much  _ more.  _ He could feel a sort of power moving through his veins, and suddenly he could fight against his restraints. 

 

He moved against Jesse, the blasts of power didn’t affect him as they once did, because he could feel Benny’s soul being sucked into that box, and knew he had to do something. 

 

He could feel the life leaving his best friend’s body, and it was making him desperate, desperate not to fail, not to let the his charge die. 

 

There was no telling how far he would’ve gone if Sarah hadn’t gotten a hold on the box and opened it, releasing the souls into the air and letting them all attack Jesse. In the theatre, it was easy to say that they were protecting the city and themselves, that the vampires were attacking them and they were protecting themselves, in the heat of the battle, that they were right in protecting themselves. But Ethan had been beating Jesse half to death when Sarah showed up. 

 

He shouldn’t have been able to, the vampires should be able to overpower any mortal any time. But Grandma had said that seers could do amazing things when their objective was threatened. On a normal day, Ethan couldn’t even fight back against the bullies that threatened them every day, but maybe it was just that he could  _ feel _ the soul being sucked from Benny’s body. 

 

But either way, Sarah found him with bloody knuckles, the vampiric skin under the assault trying to knit itself back together, not being able to before being jostled hit again. “Ethan! Let the spirits get him, Benny is waking up!”

* * *

 

If anything could get his attention, it was that. Because Jesse was gone, now, and the only person that mattered was Benny. Ethan ran over to his best friend, asking him about everything he remembered, helping him to get up and back home. 

 

It took longer than it should’ve, because Ethan kept getting jumpy and weirdly protective whenever anybody came close, even Sarah. The fledgling offered to just speed them home, but…… Ethan just needed to take care of Benny. 

 

Sarah didn’t understand, but that was something she had a feeling she would have to get used to. She made sure they got back to Ethan’s house, staying there until his parents got back from their date night, unaware of what had happened that night. 

 

 

Things calmed down once they got home. Ethan was doting on Benny as if he was sickly, and they, along with Sarah and Jane, finally relaxed on the couch, nobody said anything if the seer was holding the wizard’s wrist, taking comfort in the pulse he found under the skin. 

 

Once the parents came home and Sarah left, Benny got the go-ahead from Ethan’s mom and his grandma to stay the night at the Morgan house, they were in the boy’s room, just laying in the same bed together, not for the first time, though now Ethan had his head on his best friend’s chest, still needing a small bit of reassurance after everything that had happened that night. 

 

“Are we going to talk about it?” Ethan asked. 

 

“About what?”

 

“That thing that happened in the bathroom.”

 

“We can if you want.”

 

“If….if I read that situation right, then I want to say that I…. I think I love you too.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Good, because there was something I wanted to do.” Without giving Ethan another moment to wonder what he could have wanted to do, Benny was leaning down to press a kiss onto his best friend’s lips. It was chaste, it was something to cherish, and not rush into. It was a start.

 

 


	2. The Haunted (Set It Off)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Come on in, boy," said the skeletons sitting by her closet door  
> Dirty secrets, empty memories, and broken hearts across the floor

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's this. After I got so much feedback so fast, I was too jittery to just sit around and do nothing, so i stayed up all night to write this. 
> 
> That's a not so secret thing about me. A great way to get me to update real fast is to comment! And to read it. 
> 
> What? Oh don't mind me just trying to bully you into commenting, no problem :)

Now that everything was out in the open, life was as normal as it would ever be for Ethan and Benny. They had three vampire friends, one of them was a seer, the other was a wizard, and things were actually pretty mundane.

 

Benny and Ethan still walked to school together, Rory still fell asleep in class, though now he complained about the lack of dreams, Sarah and Erica still thought they were dorks and nerds, except now it was more like a term of endearment than an actual insult for the both of them. 

 

And the drama club being gone didn’t mean that they didn’t have their fair share of bullies. Jocks and cheerleaders and overall people cooler than them still liked to trip them in the hall. Nevermind the fact that they had saved the world. 

 

But life was pretty good now. Ethan and Benny were together, though only their small friend group and Grandma knew, and maybe Jane but she needed to learn how to knock, because they were still figuring things out and didn’t want to give people another thing to make fun of them for. 

 

It wasn’t an uncommon sight, however, to see Ethan holding Benny’s wrist after a beating, feeling his pulse thrum under the thin layer of skin. After the first couple times of having to feel around for the right artery, Ethan knew where it was by heart and could locate it no matter what position his best friend’s hands were in. Grandma had gotten Ethan a house key, so sometimes the seer would head over after a nightmare, though that was much less common. 

 

Benny was happy with the way things turned out. He had always felt like he was missing out on something in this town, and now he was one of the people who protected it from itself. He didn’t need recognition from the school or the town for what they did, he was keeping his friends in the town safe. 

 

That didn’t mean it was ever easy, though. After they defeated Jesse, the supernatural in the town had decided to come out to play. 

 

They were expecting to be able to get back to being normal high school students after the Cubile Animus was gone, or at least that was what Ethan was hoping for. But instead, a couple days later, there was talk in school about a haunted house. At first, Ethan and Benny were confused about it, well, Rory was too but he was always confused, but still it was currently the middle of November and there was no way there was an attraction was being built or was still popular so long after the holiday of scares.

 

People were still talking about it at lunch, which was surprising in and of itself. Because usually when Benny and Ethan heard about things, it meant they had just come into topic and would fade out fast, they were already mostly faded out, or it was something that people wanted to make fun of them for. 

 

“Hey, do you know what everybody is talking about?” Ethan asked Sarah as she sat down. 

 

“Erica told me about it. Some sort of house that’s supposed to be haunted. Some kids went in there the other day and supposedly never came out. I think it’s bogus, or else there would’ve been, like, police reports or something, about the missing kids.” 

 

“I think it’s worth checking out.” Benny said.

 

“You just want to try out your magic in a place you won’t get in trouble for breaking things.”

 

“So what if I do? What if there is a big bad? Might as well check it out, see if it’s real, and if there’s nothing and I get to practice without repercussions then so be it.”

 

“You’re going to keep trying to convince me until either I eventually say yes or you go off and I follow, aren’t you?” Ethan sighed.

 

Benny thought about it for a second. “Yeah, probably.”

 

“Then fine. But we are going to take some precautions, just in case the kids in school are actually right and there are some, I don’t know, vampires or something hiding out in there.”

 

“Cool.”

 

* * *

 

That night found Sarah over at their house, wearing clothes that would be easy to move in just in case a fight broke out. Ethan just stood there once he opened the door for her. 

 

“What? Get another vision?”

 

“Uh, no. I just didn’t think you were joining us. Sorry, come in.”

 

“Of course I’m joining. Someone needs to hold off the big baddie while you two are trying to undo what you did.”

 

“Oh, hi Sarah.” Said Ethan’s mom. “I didn’t call you, are you and Ethan going out?”

 

“No.” Ethan said before Sarah could say anything. “Not as a couple, at least. Sarah is joining Benny and I going to that drive in movie I told you about.”

 

“Okay kids, have fun. Remember, be safe.”

 

“Sure, mom.”

 

* * *

After picking up Benny, the three of them walked to the house was was supposedly ‘haunted’. It was supposed to be on 2201 Fake Street Boulevard, which was, of course, just barely in the richer part of the neighborhood. 

 

Which meant that the house had to be big and spooky, even from the outside. And that there was so much space between houses that nobody would notice somebody just walking in and disappearing.  Feeling his anxiety rise as they approached, Ethan grabbed onto Benny’s arm and put his thumb on his wrist, right over the pulse. He had a bad feeling about going in, but when Benny put his mind to something, there were very few things that could stop him. 

 

Benny was the one who opened the door, and walked in with a stupid grin on his face when nothing happened. Ethan stopped him from just walking into the room like an open target, though. Something about this gave him the creeps. And it wasn’t just the horror movie decor, there was an air of ‘do not enter’ around the house and Ethan didn’t feel any more comfortable as they walked further into it. 

 

Hesitantly, the seer let go to touch a table, but he didn’t see anything. Not in a vision, at least. He looked around the room, determined to convince Benny and Sarah to get out of there, but when he turned around, nobody was there. 

 

“BENNY!” Ethan shouted, frantically, feeling panic crawl up his throat. If this place was playing tricks on him, then it knew the exact thing that would make him freak out the most. 

 

* * *

 

“BENNY!” Ethan screamed.

 

  
“What? You know you don’t have to scream, I’m right here.” Benny said as he turned around, only to find his best friend looking around at everything and anything. “Hey, Ethan, I’m right here.” Benny walked up to him, but the seer didn’t seem to even register his presence.

 

“BENNY! This isn’t funny!”

 

Benny walked up behind him. “Ethan, can you hear me?” He asked but never got an answer as his friend turned around, hoping that everything would go back to normal. “Sarah? Something is definitely wrong!” 

 

“I can see that. He touched that table and now he can’t see any of us.”

 

Benny focussed his attention to his boyfriend, maybe even though he couldn’t hear the wizard, he might be able to feel him. Benny placed his hands on Ethan’s shoulders, but immediately got pushed down onto the ground, Ethan hovering over him, yet not seeing him. He had looked like he was getting a vision, but it was hard to tell while he was being thrown around like a rag doll.

 

“He can’t see you.” Sarah said. “He’s gonna think that you’re some monster who is invisible and did something to Benny.”

 

Her point was proven when Ethan asked, “What are you?” In the voice he only gets when he’s about to rage quit a game. Otherwise- very very angry, yet this time it held a note of fear. 

 

Benny grabbed Ethan’s hand, and just held it for a second. Then he started to get up while pulling the hand closer to him, putting it right over his heart. He took Ethan’s other hand and put it on his face, letting the seer map it out. 

 

“Benny?”

 

Figuring that words wouldn’t work, Benny just nodded, and leaned down to kiss Ethan. When they pulled apart again, somehow Ethan looked directly into his eyes, even though he couldn’t see his best friend. 

 

“There  _ is  _ something going on in this house. I don’t know what it is, but just… just don’t touch anything. And… please don’t let go.” Ethan took a deep breath, and Benny felt really bad about not being able to reassure his best friend with his words. This was Ethan’s actual worst fear, it went against literally everything he did as a seer. He had lost his charge and, for a little while, couldn’t protect him from anything, since he couldn’t actually see where he was. 

 

Benny, now holding Ethan’s face in the same way his was being held, gently brushed a thumb over his eyelid, a silent question he hoped to convey.

 

“Are you asking about my vision?” Benny nodded. “There are some people trapped in some of the rooms here by their fears. I’m pretty sure there’s like a wall or sometime with latin carved into it, and breaking the line of text will break the spell. I’m kinda debating myself on whether we should check it out or whether I should just take you out of here before you revisit your fears.” Benny smiled, then started tugging his best friend towards the stairs, making his pick obvious. “How did I know that you’d pick that one?”

 

“Come on, Sarah, we’ve gotta bring some people out of their fears.”

 

“What? Sorry, I was just stunned that you were quiet for more than two minutes while you were conscious.” 

 

“I can be quiet, when it’s important.”

 

“That’s cute.”

 

* * *

 

Searching the rooms was made difficult when Ethan couldn’t see or hear Benny. They checked every room, starting downstairs. They had found three kids so far, matching the descriptions of the kids who supposedly went missing, but the last one was hard to find. Sarah had already checked all the rooms upstairs, and there was no way Ethan and Benny would split up, not now. 

 

The kids they had found were all still stuck in their nightmares, but at least now someone knew where they were. They eventually found the last girl in the library, the creepiest place Ethan had ever even thought about. 

 

It was a labyrinth of books and cobwebs, housing some of the biggest spiders either of them had ever seen. Ethan was doing his best to stay calm and comfort himself through the hand in his and the steady thrum of Benny’s heart beating against his thumb. 

 

It was silent in the library, except for Ethan’s footsteps and breathing, well, even if Benny and Sarah were talking he couldn’t hear or see them. Ethan rounded a corner, peeked around, and was stunned.

 

There was a girl, in the corner, dead, killed by her fear.

 

They needed to get out of there before anyone else got scared to death….literally. 

 

He could feel Benny trying to push him forward, trying to see, but Ethan pushed back. “Please. You don’t need to see that. I’ll tell you later, just.... Don’t move and I’ll be right back, okay?” Ethan said, reaching up for Benny’s face and kissing him on the cheek.

 

Hoping Benny would stay put, Ethan moved closer to the girl. Just under her hand was something carved into the wood. He moved her hand, and directly under it was the scrawled words  _ timoribus faciem tuam, _ and Ethan knew that those words were the ones in his vision. 

 

The seer reached down and pulled put the knife Benny’s Grandma had given him from Jesse’s stint, and carved a line straight through the words. 

 

It was pretty anticlimactic until the last letter was cut through. Then there was a burst of power from his place on the floor. The last thing Ethan could remember seeing was the girl’s body reanimate, as if she’d never been dead, only frozen. Then the force of the power knocked him back and his head hit a bookshelf.

 

Everything went black.  

 

* * *

Benny stayed where he was, deciding that Ethan was probably right in that he probably didn’t want to see what had made him seem actually scared for a minute there. 

 

He felt the blast of power, but he didn’t feel the repercussions. He wasn’t even worried about it until Ethan went flying back and knocked himself out on a bookshelf. 

 

There was a girl that came up behind the two of them. She looked like she might still be in eighth grade, a little bit younger than the rest of her friends. She quickly gave her thanks and went to find her friends. 

 

For a frightening ten seconds, Benny felt like he was frozen in place. He didn’t know what to do, but eventually he couldn’t stand to let Ethan just lay there. So he did what any good best friend would do.

 

He carried him home. 

 

* * *

After a quick phone call to Ethan’s mom to make sure he could spend the night and the long trek back to Benny’s house. Benny had noticed some things. 

 

One thing was that Ethan was holding the dagger his grandma had given the two of them. Another was that the seer had laid his head directly over Benny’s heart, in what their friends had dubbed his favorite position (Ethan had never argued that point). The last thing was that either he was stronger than he thought he was, or Ethan was lighter than he looked. Because there was no way she should’ve been able to carry a human being for the forty-five minutes it took them to walk back. 

 

Once they all got back home, the three of them were exhausted. Sarah had given the boys a head start on the way home so she could check on all the kids that had been trapped, and made sure they could get home before she left. Ethan was still knocked out, but he had looked and sounded tired before he got knocked back. And Benny was tired from carrying Ethan back all the way and everything that ended up happening at that haunted house. 

 

Sarah left as soon as they got home, spotting how it was nearly eleven thirty and they had school the next day. Benny laid Ethan down on his bed, and tried to sleep next to him (even in sleep, Ethan wouldn’t let him go). But he just couldn’t. 

 

Why not?

 

When his grandma came in the room, he told her everything that had happened.

 

“You know, it’s not such a one sided thing, dear.” Grandma said.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean it’s not just him who needs to protect you. Don’t you know? Soldiers are constantly wounded or killed. The ones that are supposed to protect something tend to get hurt. When a seer is sent to protect a person, it never goes one sided. You read that book I gave you, it said that seers and their charge’s souls are compatible, nearly to the extent of soulmates. 

 

“You couldn’t love someone and not want to care for them when they’re hurt. Right now, you want to look over him, you want to protect him. Maybe you don’t feel the need to do it constantly, but you need to do it now because you know he’s vulnerable. Not just because he’s sleeping, but because he is injured. He might have a concussion. If what you said is true about the bookshelves. 

 

“And somewhere, deep inside, you know that he couldn’t fight if he were awake. When he wakes up, he might be dizzy, or won’t know where he is, or extra protective or touchy. You just let him know where he is, let him do what he needs to do. Tomorrow morning I’ll tell the Morgan’s that you two need to stay home because you got a cold or something at that movie of yours and whip up some chicken soup. It wouldn’t be the first time you two have been sick together.”

 

“Thank you so much, Grandma. For….everything. Always.”

 

“No problem, dear. Now, you do what you need to do. I advise you to try and get some rest when you can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize if it feels rushed, but usually I have a slightly bigger conflict that I take a couple chapters to really plan out, but I figured that this was good enough.
> 
> And if you haven't figured it out, I don't really write dialogue as a way to move the story forward. Oh well.


	3. When The Day Met The Night (Panic! At The Disco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the moon fell in love with the sun  
> All was golden in the sky  
> All was golden when the day met the night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah this is a filler, I can tell you that right now. But it still drives a bit of the currently nearly-non-existent plot forward, so do what you will. Because I don't like to put a bunch of action into my stories, to me it makes it feel cheap and unrealistic, even though it's a completely fictional universe.
> 
> And this one was fighting me. Filler chapters always do, because I have to make them more dialogue-based, unlike a lot of my other chapters, and I've written a script before, and let me tell you, dialogue is not my forte. I aplaude the screenwriters of the world

Benny didn’t sleep that night. He was too wired from what had happened earlier to get any rest. Nevermind the fact that his soul was wanting him to take care of his best friend, apparently.

 

He just sat there through the hours, not wanting to wake Ethan up by turning on his computer and watching something. But he wasn’t bored. Benny was content to lay there and wait for the morning. He held his boyfriend through his nightmares, the night replaying in his subconscious would make the seer wake up for a minute, needing Benny to shush him back to sleep, letting both of their protective natures through for a moment, before Ethan got the rest he needed.

 

By the time the sunrise was peeking through his blinds, the seer was waking up naturally, slowly.

 

“Welcome to the real world.” Benny said when he saw eyes looking up at him.

 

“Ugh, my head is killing me. Where are we?”

 

“My room. How much do you remember?”

 

“You wanted to go to that dumb haunted house….then I touched a table and I…. I couldn’t see or hear you or Sarah. I was so scared, Benny. I was trying to see if I could get a vision, and if I couldn’t, then I was just going try and convince you to go.” Benny could see the panic Ethan felt while he was reliving the experience. “I’m sorry I pushed you to the ground…. I thought you were a monster.”

 

Benny chuckled. “It’s fine, dude. I could tell that you were terrified, that you couldn’t see me. I’m just glad I could see you, or I don’t know what either of us would’ve done.”

 

“I was on the verge of tearing down the whole house as it was. But I’m sure we would’ve bumped into each other at some point. Or you would’ve hit me with a spell to let you see me or something.”

 

“You say that like I’m good at magic.”

 

“You just need some more practice, man. Let’s not wander into a haunted house next time, yeah?”

 

“I guess we could have done our research. How did you break it anyway?”

 

“Break what?”

 

“The spell.”

 

“Oh, well there was some words carved into the floor. I couldn’t read it, but it looked like latin.”

 

“We can have Grandma look at it when she wakes up.”

 

“What time is it?”

 

“Like eight o’clock, why?”

 

“Shit! We’re late for school.”

 

“E, I didn’t get a blink of sleep last night. And Grandma already said that she’d call your mom and make up some excuse. I told her what happened last night, plus you probably have a concussion. There’s no way she would let me go to school after a night like that.”

 

“Why didn’t you sleep? You sound exhausted.”

 

“Grandma says it has something to do with the seer thing. Like the thing you do. Something like you were hurt, so I felt the need to watch over you.”

 

“You don’t have to be embarrassed about it.”

 

“Whaaaat? No. I’m not embarrassed.”

 

“Benny. I’ve known you for almost a decade. I know what you sound like when you’re trying to downplay something. That and you’re so obvious it’s almost funny.

 

“You know, one thing I can say that I actually understand 100% is what you’re feeling. Like you know I can take care of myself, pretty well, if the whole thing with Jesse is anything to go by. But at the same time, you want to take care of me because… well for me it’s because I have this insanely powerful constant urge to keep you safe, make sure you’re safe, and steer clear of any trouble if at all possible, but not to the point where you can’t experience life…. But I think with you it’s more like you saw me last night and saw your unconscious, concussed seer and that same protective urge came up in you. I have felt everything you’re feeling right now. I do, actually, on a regular basis. So don’t be embarrassed, because there is no doubt in my mind that I will be doing the same in the future.”

 

“You really feel like this all the time?”

 

“I can’t be certain that it’s the same but, yeah, I do. I’ve gotten better at controlling it, through the years. I can’t go psycho on Kurt Lockner just because he pushed you into a wall, now can I?

 

“And I guess when I was younger, we didn’t really get into the kinds of situations to make me over-protective. It gave me a chance to be able to ignore the small things, even though it still hurts when people like Kurt beat us up and I can’t fight back, because we have to be normal. It kills me to see you hurt, knowing I could have done something to prevent it, even though logically there is no way they wouldn’t find a way to get to me or you separately, and hurt us worse because I intervened.”

 

“Yeah, I think that’s exactly what I’m feeling. You are, or were, hurting and there’s nothing I can do about it but make sure nothing else happens. Now, to change the subject; what did you see when you turned that corner anyway? You looked really scared, and you said I didn’t need to see it.”

 

“The little girl that you said you saw? She was on the ground, not moving. She looked dead, felt cold when I had to touch her to cut through the spell.”

 

“Why did you have the dagger with you? I keep mine in the nightstand.”

 

“First off, we were going to a place when we didn’t know anything about it except that some kids disappeared while inside, why _didn’t_ you bring yours? And second, I always have it on me, usually on my ankle.”

 

“Wait, why do you carry it around? You know that Vice Principal Hicks would get you _expelled_ if he caught you with a weapon. What would you say then? Oh it’s for _killing vampires_?”

 

“I keep it on my _ankle_ , Benny. Not anywhere that’s gonna draw attention. And it’s not like they’re allowed to pat me down or anything. And I always wear too long pants.”

 

“Okay, but why do you even wear it on your ankle? What if the next time we get beat up, one of the other kids finds it? Or what if it falls out?”

 

“It’s got a holster.”

 

“I saw it when I was carrying you home yesterday, how can you be so sure that nobody else will stumble upon it?”

 

“Benny, stop talking for a minute so I can answer your questions, okay?” Benny nodded. “Okay. I carry it around because I never know when I’ll need it, especially with the way our lives are going. I have plans for if I need to go to the nurse for a sprained ankle or something, and any problem I could think up. And I wear it on my ankle because on the hip or thigh would draw attention, especially with it having to be over the clothes. And I can get to it faster than you’d think. I think it has something to do with the seer thing.”

 

Ethan’s stomach grumbled before Benny could freak out any more. As they made their way to the kitchen for some food, the seer realized something.

 

“Wait, you _carried_ me?!”

 

* * *

 

The day was really calm, after the mutual interrogation that morning. Once breakfast was settled, both Ethan and Benny went to the couch to watch tv. Not long after they sat down, Benny had put his head in his best friend’s lap and fallen into some much-needed sleep.

 

That was how Grandma found them once she went downstairs. Ethan playing with his hair absently, she just smiled in greeting before going to make that chicken soup she had promised.

 

“Hey, Grandma?”

 

“Yes?” She asked, walking back into the living room.

 

“Last night there was a spell on that house we went to, and I wanted to know what it meant.”

 

“Benny couldn’t translate it for you? He should inherently know latin.”

 

“I kinda didn’t let him see it yesterday, I thought there was a dead girl but I guess she wasn’t dead but that’s a long story.”

 

“Okay, well do you remember what it was?”

 

“I think it was something like timoribus faciem tuam, or something like that.”

 

“Oh dear.”

 

“What?”

 

“You botched the pronunciation completely, but that means ‘face your fears’. Which, in turn means it showed everybody who was affected their worst nightmares.”

 

“I thought it might be something like that.”

 

“What did you see?”

 

“Well, I _couldn’t_ see or hear Benny. That would’ve been horrible alone but…”

 

“But?”

 

“I didn’t tell him this, but…. Okay, so the day we met I had a vision about Benny’s parents being killed. That was why I invited him over so quickly.”

 

“Go on.”

 

“Sometimes I get nightmares about it. Those are usually the times I come over in the middle of the night. I just need to make sure Benny is okay, though usually I can’t go back to sleep after one of them.”

 

“How does this tie into last night, dear?”

 

“Well, I kept getting glimpses of it in the corner of my eye. But only once I found Benny. There were the voices too. Just everything that happened that night, the worst night of both of our lives, I saw, last night, the things I knew nothing about beforehand, and….I just know that they were real. I...I don’t know how.”

 

“Well, your biggest fear was losing Benny. But you two got out of that pretty fast. That must’ve been second on the list, so the spell tortured you with that. And I’m guessing some of your abilities tapped into the past.”

 

“I can do that?”

 

“Yes, once your abilities grow strong enough.”

 

“But… how did the spell even get there in the first place?”

 

“The previous owner might have placed it there when they left or before they died, if they died. Or maybe it was one of the many supernatural beings in this town.”

 

“Do you think whoever did it will continue?”

 

“They might, if they're alive still. That isn't a spell Benny could do, he needs a lot more practice and training before he could correctly do a spell like that one. It takes a lot of power.

 

“But I wouldn't worry about it, dear. There's no way to know who put the spell on it in the first place unless someone just comes out and tells you.” Benny stirred in Ethan’s lap from the concern emanating off of the latter, combined with their voices disturbing his usually heavy sleep. “Just take care of my grandson, Ethan, and everything will would out fine.” She paused to lay a hand on his shoulder, then left the room.

 

So that was how the day passed, at least until school got out. Around three thirty, Sarah walked in.

 

“Hey Ethan, where’s-”

 

“Shhh.” Ethan said, pointing to the sleeping boy. “He didn’t get any sleep.” He whispered.

 

“Well, I was going to ask where Benny was but I guess that answers that.” She whispered back.

 

“What’re you doing here?”

 

“Well, you guys weren’t at school, I was hoping nothing bad happened. You hit that bookshelf pretty hard.”

 

“Yeah, Grandma said last night that it might’ve given me a concussion, but she checked me out earlier and said I’d be fine, but that I wasn’t allowed to go running around today.”

 

“I don’t think you would leave Benny after last night if you were allowed to.”

 

Ethan looked down at the peaceful face and smiled. “I wouldn’t. I don’t know that I could, actually, and I don’t want to try.”

 

“You two are too cute.”

 

Ethan threw a pillow at her.

 

She hung out with them for a couple hours, eventually saying, “You know, people are raving about how those kids were found. It was a miracle, they somehow all got home last night, somewhat healthy. But everybody is still too scared of the house to go near it.”

 

“Yeah, that’s great. Well, the spell was broken, so I don’t think there will be anymore people getting trapped in there. ” The room went quiet as Benny started stirring in Ethan’s lap.

 

The spellcaster blinked up at Ethan. “How long was I out?”

 

The seer looked at the time. “Just over six and a half hours.”

 

“Okay, cool.”

 

“You can go back to sleep if you want.”

 

Benny started to get up, stretching his sore muscles. “Nah, I’m awake now. Oh, hey Sarah.”

 

“Hey.” She looked down at her phone as she got a text. “Well, I really only came to check on you two. Now apparently Erica wants to join the cheer squad, I’ve gotta change her mind before they have signups tomorrow. Catch you later.” She said, walking out the door to go to Erica’s house.

 

“How are you feeling?” Benny asked.

 

“About the head thing or the seer thing?”

 

“Both.”

 

“Well, my head feels a lot better after I ate that soup your Grandma gave me.”

 

“She like enchants it or something.”

 

“That explains it. But the everything is really calm right now, especially since you’ve been here all day and not much has happened.”

 

“You know that we will have to go to school tomorrow, right? And probably be beat up again for whatever reason.”

 

“Yeah, I know. But I’m trying to live in the moment.”

 

“That’s funny.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Well, you get visions of the future, and you’re trying to ‘live in the moment’.”

 

“Shut up.”

 

“You gotta admit, it’s pretty funny.” Benny said, poking Ethan in the side.

 

“I can still tackle you.”

 

“You haven’t done that since we were kids, you wouldn’t-” Benny got cut off as Ethan, true to his word, tackled his best friend. “Ack!” Was the only thing the wizard could get out while trying to get away.

 

After about five minutes of wrestling, Ethan pinned Benny down by his arms, straddling his chest. For a moment, they were both just panting, then they were kissing, and the whole world disappeared.

 

It wasn’t heated, it wasn’t going to go anywhere, yet it wasn’t quite chaste. It was full of reassurance and promise, something to calm the lingering protectiveness inside of both of them, a way to prove the other was well.

 

They broke apart, once again panting, because they ran out of air.

 

“I should tell my mom I’m okay.”

 

“Yeah.” Benny leaned back up and stole another kiss. They broke apart again not too long after.

 

“She’ll be worried if I stay another night.”

 

“Totally.” They kissed again. It was unhurried, a show of love in its purest form.

 

“Mom can wait a little longer.”

 

“Agreed.”

 

* * *

 

Eventually, Ethan did get home. Though he did change his clothes from the ones he was wearing the day prior (they each kept clothes at the other’s house), and took a shower (they had toothbrushes too).

 

“Hey, honey. You feeling okay? Evelyn said you guys had come down with something this morning.”

 

“I feel fine. Benny puked this morning, and I didn’t feel great. I think it was something we ate last night.” Ethan lied, he was getting a bit better at that.

 

“But you feel better?”

 

“Definitely, but I’m kinda tired. I’m gonna go to bed after dinner.”

 

“Alright, sweetheart. Get your rest.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The one and only reason I have been able to post 3 chapters in the same amount of days is because of people like _MBAV fan66_ , who has been wonderfully made me want to write more, to the point where I am asked why I'm writing so much, given that recently on my other works I've been posting like once a month. I probably should go back to those and give this one a break, but I just watched the series again and I have too many ideas.


	4. Alone Together (Fall Out Boy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don't know where you're going  
> But do you got room for one more troubled soul?  
> I don't know where I'm going  
> But I don't think I'm coming home and I said  
> I'll check in tomorrow if I don't wake up dead  
> This is the road to ruin  
> And we're starting at the end

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read the notes at the bottom
> 
> I don't know why I put this whole thing at the top. Honestly I was expecting this chapter to fight me as hard as the last two did so I put it so I could bring up my word count easily. It's just something I can play with later, not at all important to the story, as far as I know. I'm writing as I go along.

“Benny, I don’t see why we need to do this.” Ethan said as they changed in the bathroom. It was after school and there was an hour before cheer tryouts started.

 

“Come on, E. I know something fishy is going on with the cheerleaders.”

 

“But why do we have to dress up like this too?”

 

“How else are we going to get close to the squad? I hope you’ve noticed this by now, but we are both boys, you know, not girls.”

 

“Of course, I know that, Benny.”

 

“And they already kicked us out when we tried to just stay in there, _as boys_.”

 

“Fine. I get your point. Something about that Stephanie girl gives me bad vibes. And….I had a vision when Erica bumped into me earlier.”

 

“You think I don’t know that? I would’ve asked you about it then but the head cheerleader was being super sketchy right then. What was it about anyway?”

 

“Stephanie used to bully Erica, like she still does with us. But that’s why Erica wants to join the cheer squad so bad, because she wants to get back for what they used to do to her.”

 

“How does that involve us?”

 

“Because, there’s something...not right about Stephanie. There’s something different about the air around her, almost like it's….stale.”

 

“Dude, can you see auras now?”

 

“No, I can’t see auras. It’s just a feeling I get. I don’t trust her, B, I am asking you now to be careful around her.”

 

“I will be, Ethan. I promise.” They both stepped out of the bathroom stalls at nearly the same time, looking over each other, then walking to the mirror.

 

Ethan groaned. “I still look like a dude, even with the wig.”

 

“That’s why I ran to the store last night and bought this last night.” Benny said, pulling some makeup from his backpack. “So, this tube thing has a wand or something inside of it and it’s for eyelashes-”

 

“I know what this stuff is, Benny.”

 

“How do you know what this is?”

 

“I have a sister who just discovered NikkieTutorials on youtube, and my mom used to ask me to help her with date night outfits and makeup, before it became a ploy to go to weird dances and things they could never get me to go to.”

 

“Do you know how to use any of this?”

 

“I know how to use all of it. Do you think my mom knows how to do it? She asks me all the time, Jane too.”

 

“How did I not know any of this?”

 

“Because I never told you, and I made her promise me to never ask in front of my friends.”

 

“I’m at your house all the time, like _all the time_. Wait wait wait…..is that why you do everybody’s halloween makeup?”

 

“Yup.” Ethan said, looking through the contents and started doing his own. “Wait, back up. You picked this up last night?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Benny, how long have you been planning this?”

 

“Since Sarah left my house yesterday.”

 

“And you didn’t think to ask beforehand? If you would’ve gotten me to agree beforehand, I could’ve just brought my halloween stuff, I’ve got some really good foundations and concealers in there.”

 

Ethan moved from one item to the next, effortlessly shifting the shadows across his face and blending the colors into his complexion. Benny was unabashedly staring, watching until his boyfriend reached for the lipstick.

 

“Wait a minute.”

 

Ethan froze. “What?”

 

Benny kissed him before he answered, figuring it would explain itself. They didn’t stop for a while, only taking short pauses to get enough breath to sustain them until the next pause. It was Ethan who finally put a hand on Benny’s chest to keep him from surging forward again.

 

“You still need to look more….feminine.”

 

“Right.”

 

Ethan did Benny’s makeup too, well familiar with how to work around the grooves of his face from the years and years of experience dressing up like different characters for halloween and conventions and such.

 

By the time they were both done, they could pass for girls.

 

“Damn, E. How the hell did you make my Adam’s apple disappear?”

 

“It’s simple once you get the hang of it, just shadows and light. A bit darker around the jawline, make it seem like you have a rounder face, a very popular trait, and then I just gave you a bit of color.”

 

“You did eyeliner, Ethan. Perfectly. Do you know how many times I’ve seen posts and things complaining about how it’s impossible to get liquid eyeliner even?”

 

“Whatever. Makeup has rules. First, don’t rub your eyes. Like, at all. If you _need_ to then just go to the corners of your eyes and get out any gunk there. Second, don’t scratch your face. You will get foundation in your nails and then there will be a line down your face and it’s not pretty. Plus it’s so hard to get it out of your nails, because a lot of the time it’s at least resistant to water. Third, and most important rule, _never sleep with the makeup on_ . Just don’t do it, okay? It doesn’t want to come out the next day like at all because it’s set and everything, then _I_ get yelled at because I’m not really supposed to make Jane up unless it’s halloween.”

 

Benny was just staring at him. “How do you even know all this?”

 

“Before Sarah started babysitting her, so like a month ago, I would babysit Jane. You would be over most of the time, and usually she would be content with just a game of DDR or something, but if it was just the two of us then she would ask me to dress her up.”

 

“I don’t believe you know all of this because you wanted to make a nine year old happy.”

 

“I would practice on myself, sometimes.” Ethan said, voice full of confidence but body full of nerves. He had never admitted this to anyone, it was something only Jane knew about, and one of the only things she’d never threatened to blackmail him for. “She’s my little sister, I didn’t want to make her look horrible, and her little face used to light up when she would eventually get me to agree.”

 

“Awe.”

 

“Let’s just go….pep or whatever.”

 

* * *

 

The whole night was weird. First, Benny and Ethan actually got accepted to the team (or, rather, Betty and Veronica did), then the seer got another vision while they were putting their hands in the middle of the circle.

 

It was of the whole squad, chanting the cheer they had just learned. But then the whole student body fell asleep, then Benny did too.

 

Then Rory started hitting on Betty, and proceeded to call her his girlfriend, even though only half of the word was actually true.  

 

Ethan resigned himself to getting really protective that night, especially when it wasn’t Benny that came over, but Sarah.

 

“I need your help, yours and Benny’s. Erica’s acting really weird and I don’t know what to do.” She said as she walked through the door.

 

“Actually, have you seen Benny? He was supposed to meet with me after school, but he never showed up. And I had another vision.”

 

“What did you see?”

 

“That chant we learned? Yeah, it’s something Stephanie is using to suck the souls of the school, or something. If we don’t stop this, the only person walking out of the rally tomorrow will be Stephanie.”

 

“But how do we find Benny and Erica?” The doorbell answered his question.

 

He opened it, and was surprised by the entire squad coming into his living room and declaring a sleepover. Benny, or Betty, was amongst them, and so was Erica.

 

Ethan, still for some reason still dressed like Veronica, pulled him aside. “Where have you been?”

 

“You were expecting us? It was supposed to be a surprise.”

 

“I was expecting _you_. Why are you speaking so high pitched, Benny? It’s just you and me.” Ethan laid his hand on Benny’s elbow, and got another vision.

 

Erica went to Stephanie to drain her dry, the head cheerleader stopped her, and placed a sort of hex on the vampire. And Benny, who was just walking up behind Erica. They were both under a sort of spell.

 

“I can’t believe you forgot my name. We are supposed to be best friends, aren’t we?”

 

“Sorry...Betty.”

 

“There you go. Now come on, we’re gonna play truth or dare.”

 

* * *

 

Benny knew exactly what was going on. Sarah had asked him for help looking for Erica, and he had found her, but he’d also found Stephanie in the middle of a spell, and got hexed himself.

 

He could feel everything, he felt his body move and all his other senses were working just fine. He just couldn’t control what he was doing or saying. Whatever ditsy bobblehead the witch had made him into, he knew that Ethan would see something off and fix it, somehow. He didn’t want to take another minute of being in the backseat of his own body.

 

The sleepover went as well as could be expected. Ethan and Sarah snuck out early, luckily the latter was acting like herself too, so he could trust them to find a solution, hopefully soon.

 

* * *

 

Ethan woke up in his room, slumped over his desk. He noticed a few things right away. First, Sarah was passed out over the covers on his bed. Second, there were books everywhere. Third, he _really_ wanted to go check on Benny downstairs. But he knew that if he acted on that last one, he would get _Betty_ , the person who had painted his fingernails and told him all about this ‘dark haired, nerdy, geeky, handsome as all hell’ boy she had a crush on, which made Ethan make a promise to himself to reverse this as soon as he could.

 

Glancing at the clock, 4 am, Ethan shook himself awake. He draped a throw blanket over Sarah, then went down to wake Betty up so he could do her makeup. The two of them were distinct in the seer’s mind. Betty was a ditsy, barbie doll blonde who barely understood the world around her, and Benny was Ethan’s best friend, boyfriend, charge, everything. Stephanie had taken Benny away and replaced him with a ghost. Something that wasn’t real, something that had Ethan scared out of his wits.

 

The seer sighed, he had, thankfully, taken the makeup off and changed into some pajamas before he and Sarah had spent hours combing through all of Ethan’s resources to find a way to reverse it. But now he had to go into the bathroom and become Veronica again.

 

Makeup had started as a way for him and his sister to be someone else when they were home alone. Something to make Jane’s eyes light up and smile to show all the teeth, even back when they were still falling out. It was a way to escape.

 

Ethan would never give up being a seer, being able to have Benny by his side negated all of the unfortunate parts of the job. It was exhausting to worry about someone all the time, and when he got jacked up on that adrenaline-like power, it took more out of him than he would like to admit.

 

But sometimes it was fun to pretend he was someone else, to look in the mirror and see a different face than the one he had been looking at for the past fifteen years. Something he didn’t know.

 

It was something this whole experience had ruined. Ethan was sluggish while applying his foundation, and all the other products. It wasn’t his best work, but it would work for today.

 

He went downstairs to get Betty and do her makeup, because while he may not like this whole experience, there was no way he would let Benny be made fun of when it was all over.

 

He shook her shoulder. “What?” Ethan smiled a bit, even under a spell, Benny still had that raspy, barely-awake tone to his voice that he could never shake until he brushed his teeth.

 

“I’m going to help you get your makeup on, like we always do?”

 

“Right, sure. Give me a minute.” Betty climbed over the mess of limbs that was the living room, and Ethan thanked every god from any mythology that his parents were gone for three days. Now all he had to worry about was getting Jane to school and making it through the day.

 

They got up to the bathroom, and Ethan started to work on Betty’s makeup. He carefully covered up any masculine features, only adding a hint of anything that wasn’t a complexion product.

 

There was a knock at the door. “Are you doing anything I shouldn’t see?” came a nine-year old voice.

 

“No.” Was the automatic reply. Ethan realized his mistake too late.

 

Jane wasn’t stupid. She had moved up a grade because of how smart she actually was. She knew about the vampires and magic and the fact that Ethan got visions. She stepped one foot in the bathroom, turned around, and went back to her room. Ethan sighed. He hadn’t wanted to explain this to her, he just wanted to have Sarah walk Jane to school so he could keep an eye on the witch and her subjects.

 

“Why don’t you start waking up the other girls, I gotta get my sister ready for school.” It was already six, and Stephanie had said she wanted them up early for the assembly

 

Ethan walked into his little sister’s room, sitting down on her bed. “What did you guys get yourselves into this time?”

 

“Benny’s under a spell, and he won’t, or can’t, stop being girly and things and...I don’t know.”

 

“Woah.”

 

“What?”

 

“You’re, like, really bummed out about this.”

 

“You’re right.”

 

“You just admitted I was right, and I didn’t even have to annoy you into it. You….are you okay?”

 

Ethan smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “I’ll be fine. I just want my friend back is all.”

 

“Your boyyyffrrrieeeendd.” Jane teased. Ethan smiled a real smile, then, remembering their first kiss in his room, just down the hall. Jane got serious for a minute. “You really like him, don’t you?”

 

“I do.”

 

“Like _really_ like. You love him don’t you?”

 

“I think so, yeah.”

 

“Good. You deserve it. He really likes you too. Like _really_ likes. I saw it coming since you guys started eighth grade.”

 

“ _Three_ years? Really?”

 

“Yeah, it’s not like you guys are good at hiding it or anything. Anyway, get out. I need to get dressed and you need to figure out breakfast.”

 

Great, now he had to feed a bunch of people he didn't like a meal that he didn’t even really eat.

 

* * *

 

Sarah and Ethan had worked hard. School was out because everybody was getting the gym ready along with some last-minute practice for the pep rally and subsequent football game that day, and that meant the two of them were trying to find any way to break the spell.

 

The answer ended up finding them.

 

Sarah was pouring over an article she had found online and Ethan was combing through Benny’s spellbook for a second time, trying to see if they had missed anything.

 

Great thing Grandma had slammed a book down on the kitchen table. “Just what have you done?”

 

“It’s not us. There’s a witch at school and she’s got Benny and Erica and they’re going to do a thing tonight that is going to be very very bad and I haven’t gotten more than three hours of sleep in the past day.”

 

“Did you say you have a witch at your school?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Those are much harder to get rid of than you think. You said she placed a spell on _Benny_?”

 

“Yes.” Ethan squeaked.

 

“He’s been freaking out all day.” Sarah chimed in.

 

“For good reason. Witches are purveyors of the dark arts, the lot of them only want a few things, immortality, power and money. When I went to your high school, there was this girl, Stephanie, and she-”

 

“ _Stephanie?_ ” Sarah and Ethan said in unison.

 

“She wrote in my yearbook that she’d get back at us all, I guess this is what she meant.”

 

“What can we do to stop her?”

 

“I’m going to give you a spell that should negate the effects of her hexes, but you two don’t have enough magic, even combined. You’ll have to do it while magic is in the air.”

 

“Where is there magic in the air?” Sarah asked.

 

“That cheer she told us about. At the end, we’re supposed to say ‘Garno Verto Immortalis’ over and over again.” Ethan said.

 

“She’s going for immortality. Don't let her know that you have a trick up your sleeve. We want her to be as ignorant as possible so she won’t expect it.”

 

“Thanks, Grandma.”

 

“No problem. Now, bring back my grandson.”

 

* * *

 

Benny hated it. He hated the way Ethan looked at him while he was like this. It was neither of their faults, but the seer didn’t know that the wizard could see it, the way his smile didn’t reach his eyes, the tightness in his face while he tried to look happy, the way he carried himself was so…. un-Ethan-like. But he guessed the same was true for him.

 

And now Benny, or _Betty_ rather, was getting ready for the pep rally with no dark haired geek to be seen. There was only two hours until whatever Stephanie was planning would take effect. Benny just hoped he lasted that long.

 

* * *

 

Ethan and Sarah showed up thirty minutes until the rally began.  Stephanie glared at him, but he just glared back, determined that this was going to be the last day she held any sort of power over them.

 

Once the cheer started, it was hard to stop. The chant wasn’t working, it would’ve been better if Benny was chanting with them, being the only one who could use magic. They resorted to trying to leave the pentagram, but both Sarah and Ethan found their feet stuck to the floor. Eventually, as people’s souls started to leave their bodies, Ethan sent a look that said ‘I’m sorry’ over to Benny and turned to Sarah.

 

“Punch me.”

 

“What, are you crazy? I could break every bone in your body!”

 

“Just do it!”

 

“No!”

 

“We are running out of time, Sarah. Now punch me with all the force you have!”

 

Almost everybody in the stands were passed out by then, and it was starting to work on the cheerleaders now. Erica was already down.

 

“You punch me or I'll punch you.”

 

“You don't have vampire strength, Ethan!”

 

Benny started to go down. “Wanna find out?” Then Sarah finally punched him.

 

Ethan went flying, but he didn’t really feel the force from the punch, or the hit on the ground. He didn’t pass out this time. For a second he had started to feel Benny’s life draining again, he was fully in protective mode now.

 

Stephanie was looking at them with a murderous gaze, and Ethan was returning it right back. He was about to do something about it, maybe go up to her and….and do something, he didn’t really have a plan.

 

Then he became aware of the arms around his waist. How _Betty_ wasn’t in with the other cheerleaders, how he could tell by just the pressure of the arms that the spell was broken.

 

The student body was slowly waking up, and Ethan decided to stand and walk with his best friend over to their lockers, and then the bathrooms. They changed in one stall, not quite ready to separate even that far. It pained Ethan to let go of Benny just long enough to put his arms through his shirt, and he could only imagine how deep this ran for Benny.

 

They had been apart for two days, they had never spent that much time apart, not since Ethan went on a week long trip with his parents when he was eight and had come home sicker than he’d ever been. His mom had wanted to go to the hospital, but Ethan’s Grandma had just told them to give it another day, and it had gone away, because Benny had been there the whole time once he got home.

 

Once they were dressed, Ethan took some makeup wipes from his bag and made sure they looked like their normal selves when they got back out. Once they joined everybody back in the gym, most of the people had cleared out, leaving only Grandma, Sarah, Erica, Rory and an aged-up Stephanie.

 

“Ethan are you okay?” Sarah asked.

 

“Yeah…..why?”

 

“I kinda punched you across the room.”

 

“I kinda told you to.”

 

“Yeah, but…. You’re human. How are you not….broken?”

 

“Honey, he’s a seer, he’s anything but normal.” Benny’s grandma said, winking to the two of them.

 

Briefly, Benny slipped away from Ethan to hug his grandmother. “Seer?” Stephanie asked. “I should’ve known! Those creeps are always trying to stop our plans with their shi-”

 

“Clauditis ore tuo.” Benny said, making it so she couldn’t say another word.

 

He was angry. He was more than angry. Benny wanted to rip the head off of Stephanie's body. But he couldn't, Ethan would be disappointed and so would Grandma.

 

That didn't stop him from leaning down and saying, “You thought you got bullied before, just wait until the world hears you got beat by some sophomores.”

 

Then he went back to Ethan. He was feeling…..clingy. Not protective. He felt protect _ed._ He just wanted to go home and be Benny again. Be himself, not some dumb blonde who was the epitome of stereotypes.

 

He would tell Ethan later, but the whole time he had been away from his magic. Ever since his Grandma had told him about it, and he started using it, he had always felt it in his veins.

 

He had felt helpless, and now he just wanted to curl up with his seer and do nothing.

 

It was a great day to be Friday. No school tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to make something very clear. I didn't mean to make Ethan seem genderfluid in this chapter. I really didn't, but I know they're wearing some makeup in the episode and wanted to put my vast knowledge to good use and throw it in there. 
> 
> Another thing. I kinda feel like at one part in this that Ethan sounds like he's against genderfluid people? I definitely didn't mean to do that. I was trying to make it like there was his boyfriend and there was the person under the spell. Like their actually two completely different people, but I'm not great at describing things the way I want to so it just kinda came out like that. Sorry if I offended anyone.
> 
> I'm going in order that is on the MBAV wiki instead of Netflix


	5. King Of The Cloud (Panic! At The Disco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And some days I lie wide awake 'til the Sun hits my face  
> And I fade, elevate from the Earth  
> Far away to a place where I'm free from the weight  
> This old world, this old world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I took some time off because it felt like I was just pushing out chapters without really getting time to plan them at all, and I updated my other story within the, like, four days I was MIA, so I should _probably_ update my other other one but I got too jittery with ideas because of those damn plotbunnies and here I am

“How did you survive that?” Sarah asked as soon as they walked in the door to Ethan’s house.

 

“What?”

 

“You know what. I punched you, with _super strength_ , halfway across the gym. You slammed into the wall and got up like it was a push from a foot away.”

 

“Yes, and I’d prefer you not do it again.” Benny said, getting some drinks from the fridge.

 

“And what is with this? Ever since you two got together, you guys have been acting weird. And I don’t mean the kind of weird that normal couples get, like spending insane amounts of time together and the kinds of things they find romantic. You guys take weird to the extreme.”

 

“So do you, you’re a _vampire_ , remember?” Ethan defended.

 

“I know that. But it’s weird…..and it happened before you two got together, now that I think about it. Like how tense you are whenever you and Benny aren’t touching. And how you always have a finger or something on his pulse point. And trust me, I know all the pulse points. You were depressed that whole time Benny was flouncing around as Betty. And I don’t want to pry too deep, but you two are keeping secrets. Big ones. And it makes me think you two don’t trust me enough to tell me. Our group should have a no-secret policy.”

 

“Who’s keeping secrets?” Ethan’s dad asked as he walked down the stairs.

 

“Rory.” Benny said, quickly covering for them. “We think he got Knights of Ninjutsu IV and didn’t tell us.”

 

“Oh, okay. Well, if you think he’s hiding something, it’s better to confront him about it, instead of letting it build into a problem.”

 

“Thanks dad.”

 

“No problem. Okay, Ethan, your mom and I are going to the new skating rink, we’ll be back around nine. Sarah, could you pick Jane up from her friend’s house? Sam doublebooked us.”

 

“Oh yeah, it’ll be no problem. Just text me the address.”

 

“Okay, have fun, kids!” He said as he walked out the door.

 

“You know, I think I’ll take your dad’s advice.” Sarah said.

 

“We aren’t hiding anything, not….really.” Ethan stammered. Even with all the confidence he had when he was protecting Benny, he still stuttered and had trouble when speaking casually with an upperclassmen, or just people in general. Something about getting bullied for ten years, who would’ve known.

 

“We aren’t really hiding anything from you because it’s none of your business.” Benny said, sitting next to his boyfriend and getting his for his blunt disposition. “Okay, you’re right. That’s the wrong way to put it. It’s more like….there are things about our….relationship that we are still figuring out ourselves.”

 

“That doesn’t explain why Ethan isn’t a pile of broken bones.”

 

“It’s a seer thing.” Ethan said, not explaining further and getting a confused look in return.

 

Sarah looked ready to pry more, but her phone beeped, it was the Morgan’s telling her to pick up Jane. “I have to pick up your sister. Don’t think this conversation is over.” The vampire walked out the door.

 

“We should tell her.” Ethan said.

 

“I agree with you…. But now isn’t the right time.”

 

“I know. Damn, Benny. You almost died tonight.”

 

“I know.”

 

“If Sarah hadn’t punched me when she did, I would’ve punched her.”

 

“I almost wish you had, but I think the only reason the spell was broken was because you were flying through the air. It was the only way I could muster up the strength to push Betty aside. I had to make sure you were okay.”

 

“I didn’t know you were still….in there. I thought Stephanie had…..I don’t know-”

 

“You don’t have to explain it to me. At first, it was like that. Everything was dark, like I was having a lucid dream behind my eyelids. But it was only me, you weren’t in it at all. Eventually, I could feel, hear and see everything. My brain was working how Stephanie wanted it to, at least most of it was. I got home and Grandma knew something was up, and, well you know the rest.”

 

“I wish you could’ve told me.”

 

“Believe me, I was shouting it in my head. I did figure out a way to get past it though, when I was telling you about the nerd I had a crush on during Truth or Dare?”

 

“I knew you were talking about me, I thought it was just another thing about me being a seer.”

 

“Well, you’re right about one thing.” Benny said, shifting to look at Ethan directly.

 

“What’s that?” The seer asked, looking up at his boyfriend.

 

As Benny answered, the two of them looked directly into each other’s eyes. “In any form, any state of mind. I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that I will love you with all my being, no matter what happens, or what you do, because I know that you could never hurt me.”

 

“I love you too, forever and always.”

 

Benny chuckled. “Did you see that in a vision?”

 

“It’s more like a gut feeling.” Ethan smiled as they kissed. And kissed. It was much like the previous ones they had shared in this very spot. Not an invitation to go further, nor a wild ride to prove to each other that they were alive. It was something they could cherish, something deep enough for them to feel the love passing between them and still be PG enough for them to do it in the living room.

 

They separated when the door opened, but didn’t look away from each other, seeing how Sarah and Jane already knew. “Ethan?” asked the one and only Samantha Morgan, face scrunched in disappointment.

 

“Mom!” Ethan exclaimed, and shot off of the couch as if to shield Benny from the reaction he’d been afraid of getting.

 

“Honey, what’s taking so long? We’ll be late for the….” Ethan’s dad asked, trailing off as he noticed the looks on his wife’s and sons face…. And son’s boyfriends face. Benny looked about ready to pick up Ethan and get out of there at a moment’s notice. “Yes!” He said, realizing what it meant.

 

“Fine. Just this once, you were right.” Ethan’s mom said, pulling out her wallet.

 

“What’s going on here?” Benny asked, face and voice looking humorous but still tense and ready to flee.

 

“Sam and I had a little bet going. _I_ said you guys would be together by the end of sophomore year. _She_ gave it until junior year. And I was right!”

 

“So you looked disappointed because you lost a bet?”

 

“What? Oh! Yeah. I hope you didn’t think that I wouldn’t approve, did you?”

 

Ethan scratched the back of his neck. “A little.”

 

His mother pulled him close. “I would never be disappointed in something you have been so obvious about wanting for years.”

 

“What?”

 

“I just came back to grab the first aid kit, see you around nine, bye!” His mom said as she grabbed said kit and left the house.

 

“Well.” Ethan said, returning to his previous position with his head over Benny’s heart. “My parents know now.”

 

“And had a bet going.” They settled in to watch tv until Sarah came back with Jane.

 

* * *

 

 

The two weeks later, Whitechapel was holding a blood drive. Erica was excited, Sarah was terrified, Benny wanted to donate and Ethan hated needles.

 

It was always going to end in disaster. When they got to school, there was a line out the door from a classroom, and a sign that said ‘DONATE TODAY!’ written in red. The two of them couldn’t see inside, but luckily, they had a certain vampire friend who just so happened to be at the end of the line.

 

“Rory, what’s going on? Why are there so many kids waiting to donate?”

 

“Dude, there are some wicked hot nurses in there. Well, one. The other one is kinda old, I hear.”

 

“I can’t believe you guys are willing to give up your blood just to have someone look at you.”

 

“Awe, Ethan. Us two, we never really got the experience of looking around at a sea of options. I tried my very best to not acknowledge my incorrectly-thought unrequited feelings for my best friend and pick up girls, but you, my friend. You only ever had eyes for yours truly.”

 

“You know, Benny. I could just leave you to your hot nurses and find one of my own.”

 

The man in question tugged him close. “I wouldn’t give up what I have for the world and the moon.” He whispered.

 

“Get a room.” Rory groaned. “But I know that Erica is just waiting to confess her undying love for me, I’m just here to give blood.”

 

“Rory, you can’t do that. You don’t have _human_ blood. If they transfuse your blood into somebody then you might have just turned somebody.” Ethan said.

 

“Which would essentially be killing them.” Benny added.

 

“Oh. I guess I hadn’t thought of that.”

 

“Rory, can I talk to you for a second?” Erica said from behind them, which was weird because usually she did anything she could to make her stop talking to her.

 

“Anytime you want, sugarlips.” Rory said, following as she walked away.

 

Ethan and Benny watched them go, confusion furrowing both of their brows.

 

“What do you think that’s all about?”

 

“E, you’re supposed to be the brains. It’s so obvious.”

 

“Just tell me what you’re thinking.”

 

“Come on, they’re vampires. There’s a blood drive….”

 

“They’re going to steal the blood from the truck?” Ethan asked.

 

“Dude, you’re kinda slow today. Did you get any sleep last night?”

 

“I had a nightmare last night.”

 

“Dude, why didn’t you come over?”

 

“Because I woke up an hour before I left. I just dealt with it like I used to.”

 

“Why didn’t you tell me earlier? And shouldn’t you be, like, super clingy at this point instead of just normal clingy?” Benny asked, looking down at his wrist, where there was Ethan’s thumb over his pulse, again.

 

The seer shrugged. “I handled it before you knew. Sometimes just seeing you or feeling your heartbeat is enough to not go crazy. And… I guess I just didn’t think about it. I’ve been….” Ethan thought for a minute, still new to sharing his feelings, even only to his best friend/boyfriend. “I guess today has felt like it did a couple months ago. Nothing major has happened in two weeks, it’s been….normal. And….I couldn’t do a lot of the things that I do now, back when it was normal.”

 

Benny sighed. “I guess I get that. But, just because things are winding down doesn’t mean that nothing has happened. I, for one, would rather everything happen and have you than to still have to hold you are arm’s length.”

 

Ethan smiled. “Me either.” He said, and leaned into Benny a bit more. They hadn’t gone public officially, but then that wasn’t like them. The school didn’t care if they got together with someone unless that someone was popular. The only people that would care were the bullies, and there would be hell to pay if the bullies went after either one of them for just being together.

 

“Anyway, you’re going to have to walk home alone or with Sarah or something because Grandma is picking me up for a dentist appointment.”

 

“Aren’t you supposed to not go to appointments the day you get your blood drawn?”

 

“I’ll be fine, don’t you worry.”

 

“It’s my job to worry.”

 

“Yeah, whatever.”

 

* * *

 

Ethan stood there while Benny got his blood drawn, trying to keep his mind off the fact that the room was full of needles. They talked the whole time, but the seer could...see the small amounts of pain on his friend’s face from the small piece of metal invading his arm.

 

The day went by smoothly after that; Ethan went through his classes, Benny was pulled out around sixth period, Sarah was bullying vending machines all around the school. Erica and Rory hadn’t been in any classes, which was at the same time worrying and not, because Ethan didn’t want them to steal the blood, but at the same time knew they would only really steal a pint or two and it wouldn’t change the fact that a lot of people would be helped through the blood drive.

 

That all changed once school ended. With Benny at the dentist and Sarah wanting to get as far as she could from the school, Ethan was on his own walking home. So, he decided to get over his fear and give blood. What was the worst that could happen?

 

Well, he could get a vision that the nurses were vampires and Erica and Rory had been locked in the back of the blood truck and were going to go to the vampire council and _probably_ be put in whatever vampires thought was a fair justice system.

 

Which would probably lead to death.

 

Ethan came out of his vision and left the room, saying he couldn’t handle the needles. He was going to help his friends, but he couldn’t do it alone. Once he’d caught up with Sarah and Benny and caught them up with what was going on, they still needed to prepare.

 

By the time they got back to the school, it was close to dark outside and they were lucky that the nurses were nowhere to be seen.

 

To bad it didn’t last.

 

Almost immediately after they dropped their guard, the vampires dropped down from....somewhere.

 

The battle was quick. It consisted of Ethan and Sarah trying to fend off the nurses while Benny tried to free their friends. To say it was quick didn’t mean they won, not in the slightest. They were a couple of teenagers and a fledgeling against centuries old vampires. There was no chance they would be able to defeat them.

 

But they had gotten a scratch on Ethan, and they stopped everything.

  
He cried out in pain and clutched his arm. It was bleeding, he knew. It wasn’t flowing fast enough to be worrisome, but he could feel it soaking into and staining his shirt.

 

Benny was at his side in an instant, his other task gone. He looked about ready to either run away or shelter the both of them until he could get away. That was one difference about the two of them, Ethan tried to fight out of it like his life depended on it, or at least tried to eliminate the threat as fast as he could. Benny was more likely to flee and take care of the problem later, when they were both in good health. And when Ethan was in his version of protector mode, Benny was always good about not getting in the way trying to protect him.

 

But that was happening now. Anybody could see that they wouldn’t get to Ethan without physically pulling them apart.

 

“What is that smell?” One of the vampires, Annie, asked. “It smells delicious.”

 

“Well, my friend is bleeding all over, I bet it smell good to you.” Sarah said, still in a defensive stance, doing her best to stay standing and not go for the fresh blood right behind her.

 

“No…..this is different. It's the best thing I've smelled all day. I think you have an H+ deficiency, it a rare delicacy.”

 

That made Ethan look up, past his best friend. “How rare?”

 

“One pint would be worth the entire truck.”

 

Benny caught onto what Ethan was thinking. “I don’t like this, E. They might not be true to their word.”

 

“If I let you take one pint of my blood, would you let my friends and us go?”

 

“Yes.” The older one said.

 

“And that means you can’t go run to the council or store it and come after us again. And stay out of Whitechapel.”

 

“Deal.”

 

“Put it in writing.” He could tell that the nurses were starting to get tired of this, but he wasn’t going to take the chance getting out of the agreement.

 

“Or I could just suck you dry right now and we won’t have this problem.” Annie said, getting close, but the other vampire held her back.

 

“Don’t. Look at them, Annie. One of them is a seer.” She stopped advancing, but didn’t back up.

 

Ethan pushed past Benny the slightest bit to stand in front of him instead. “If we have a deal, write it down somewhere and give it to me. If we don’t, then take one step closer and I’ll rip your heart out.” He said, holding up a stake between them in his good hand, ignoring the glaring pain.

 

“Fine.” The older one said, walking to the door of her car, hands up and moving obviously enough that she wouldn’t be attacked. She pulled out a napkin and a pen and wrote down their deal and signed it with a drop of her own blood.

 

She handed Ethan the napkin once she came back. “Can we just get this over with now?”

 

It was a quick process, though Benny was a bit overprotective the whole time, but Ethan just held his hand and got through it. His fear of needles hadn’t gone away, but he sat there and considered the alternative of trying, and failing, to fight their way out and either ending up dead or kidnapped. He thought this was a better option.

 

By the time everything was over and done with, Rory and Erica saved, Ethan and Benny were inseparable. It wasn’t like they weren’t before, but usually they weren’t big fans of PDA, let alone how they were just holding each other on the way home. And how Benny was doting doing all over him. First with wrapping his arm with gauze from the truck, then making sure it didn't hurt every thirty seconds.

 

The two full vampires left to their houses after they passed their respective streets, while Sarah walked back to Ethan’s house to pick up her car. She didn’t actually say anything until they were in the seer’s driveway. “So will you please tell me what’s going on with you guys? Because this is more than just overprotective boyfriend stuff. This is a full on ‘my life depends on you I’ll do anything for you’ kind of thing.”

 

“Yeah… We’ll explain it. Just give me a sec to tell my mom that I’m staying the night at Benny’s and then we can talk over there. It’ll be so much easier with Grandma there to help.”

 

“Thank you. And if you’re not out in five minutes then I’m going to barge in there and physically pull you out.”

 

They both got a chuckle out of that. “Right. I’ll see you in a bit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it, tell me if you did, or maybe what I could do better. I try to get through the meat of the episodes very quickly because I know you know a lot of it and it reads better for the actual storyline. I hope it doesn't feel cheap or anything. 
> 
> Dude it was so hard to find a song that encompassed the whole chapter. I was looking through my phone's 300 songs and I couldn't find one that said a little something about each part of the chapter. I just barely thought of using Panic's new album when I was about to post it without a title. 
> 
> Comment and I'll write more!


	6. Death Valley (Fall Out Boy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> But we are alive  
> Here in death valley  
> But don’t take love off the table yet  
> 'Cause tonight it’s just fire alarms and losing you  
> We love a lot

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I tried to do a Benny-centric chapter and got an Erica-centric chapter. Oops. And I got all the lore from the spn wiki, so there's that

Benny and Ethan were quick in the house, snagging some first aid supplies and telling the seer’s parents that he’d fallen out of a tree. Once they were outside again, the Sarah joined them to go to Benny’s house. She offered to drive, but it was a block away so it wasn’t really worth it.

Once there, Ethan sat at the kitchen table while his boyfriend unwrapped, disinfected, and rewrapped his arm. Sarah set out pretzels and sodas on the table, feeling that this would be a lengthy explanation, and waited for them to be done before they started. She knew that they both needed time to collect their thoughts and that the wound probably hurt like hell.

Ethan started. “So it started in a supermarket…” He told the story of the first meeting up until the point where Grandma had come to tell Benny the news.

“It’s funny, you know? I can remember it like it was yesterday. The whole thing. Everyone told me that I would forget about it, but I never did. When Grandma pulled me aside, all I wanted to do was go back inside to play with my new friend. I….I just didn’t understand any of it. I didn’t  _ want _ to believe it. I was six fucking years old, I didn’t think it could ever happen. I just ran back inside the house, and of course Ethan knew what had happened, he was the reason I didn’t have to see it. And, Ethan, I don’t think you will ever truly understand how grateful I am that I didn’t have to witness that.” Benny had to take a minute to regain his composure, tears had been welling up in his eyes and nobody said a word. “We just kinda….sat in silence for a while until I came to terms with it.”

“Fast forward through the years.” Ethan said, pulling the attention back to him. “My whole life, since I met him at the store, I just….I get this feeling. Like if something’s wrong or...like I need to protect him. Like I know that he’s capable, I know that he can take care of himself, but it’s just-”

“It’s not something he can help.” Benny added. 

“Right. It’s not logical. But it...it actually hurts, like physically, to see Benny in any kind of pain. And I get this feeling when something’s wrong, it’s like a panic attack, almost. Like whenever he’s sick, I get really jumpy and paranoid until I go and see him. And I can’t be away from him too long, found that out when my mom tried to go on a week long trip out of town. I got really sick, like  _ really _ sick. But….it gets bad if something happens to Benny. Like one time he broke his arm and even though he was trying to play it off, I almost started hyperventilating until Grandma got him to the hospital.”

“So when did you guys figure any of it out?” Sarah asked.

Ethan launched into the story about when he went to ask Grandma about it. That story took him about twenty minutes, shuddering at the memory of having to run to the bathroom and feeling queasy now retelling it. It was much better now that Benny was there, with an arm over the both of his shoulders, being able to lean on him, it was a good place to be.

“Okay, so much makes sense now. But, seriously, how did you survive that punch? I only did it because I knew there was no other way, unless you punched me, but I knew that it probably wouldn’t have made me leave the circle.”

“Seers are much more capable than people give them credit. And don’t discount their charges either.” Benny said with a bit of a smile on his face.

“I don’t mean to say that either of you are weak, but I kinda have super strength.”

“It was a different situation. I could feel Stephanie draining the life out of Benny. It was the same thing when Jesse was in town. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him, Sarah. He was in trouble, serious trouble.”

“Why didn’t you do the thing you did with Jesse, then? He was trying to hold you in place.”

“But….that was just with the force of his will. And my will to protect is larger than anybody else’s. Stephanie was holding us there with magic, I didn't know how else to break it.” 

“That still doesn’t answer how you survived, or how you got up like it was nothing.”

“I did because I needed to. This….thing, I don’t know what to call it, it’s more powerful than any adrenaline rush.”

Sarah nodded, and let it go. Things settled down after that. The group moved to the couch and watched tv until 11, when Sarah had to go home. It was the weekend, though, so Ethan and Benny had the whole time to detox from the night. 

Benny decided to walk Sarah to her car, Ethan volunteered to stay behind for a shower. It was all going well, the fledgeling had gotten to her car and was watching as the wizard rounded the corner, wanting to make sure he got back home alright. It was a an okay neighborhood, but it was still really late at night. She had just put her car in drive when a blue blur came out of nowhere and took Benny. 

She had no time to get out of the car and chase it, seeing as she didn’t even know which way it went. So she did the only thing she knew to do, she drove back to the Weir residence and let herself in. 

“Ethan! Grandma!” She yelled as soon as she got into the house. The former stumbled out of Benny’s room in only a shirt and underwear, while the latter rushed out of her room. They were both wearing alarmed expressions. She suddenly didn’t know how to proceed.

It took about ten seconds for Ethan to ask, “Where’s Benny?” 

“Something took him.”

The seer started to rush down the stairs, but his legs gave out as soon as he reached the last one. Sarah caught him and brought him to the couch, where they had all been sitting not even five minutes ago.    
  


“Ethan, are you okay?”

“I don’t know. It hurts…..” He curled up onto the couch in a fetal position, blankly staring at the wall. 

“Ethan!” She tried shaking him, but he was completely unresponsive. 

Grandma was suddenly kneeling before them. “He’s not going to respond, dear.”

“What? No! He has to! We’ve gotta find whatever blue asshole took him.”

“Did you just say blue?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I was hoping it wasn’t this. There’s only one creature that can survive on this side of the planet who is blue. I believe what you are looking for is a djinn.”

* * *

Benny woke up in a bed. It wasn’t his, but it was a really nice bed. He didn’t want to get up right then, he just wanted to lay down with Ethan next to him like he was-

Something wasn’t right. He couldn’t remember falling asleep the night before, and he’d never waken up next to Ethan the way they were now, shirts off, only in underwear. They both always made sure to have an extra layer between them, not yet ready to take the next step. 

“Finally awake, sleepyhead?” Came a voice from behind him. It was Ethan’s, that was for sure, but there was something off about it. It was deeper than usual, a little bit deeper. 

Benny finally looked up, and what he saw shocked him. Ethan looked like he was about ten years older than when Benny last saw him. His hair was spiked instead of the usual longish hair in a near bowl cut. That was weird.

“Y-yeah. You know me, gotta have my sleep.” He said nervously.

“You sound off, are you okay, babe?”

“I thought I was the only one that used pet names.”

“Sure, when we were in high school. That was a little while ago.”

“What happened?”

“Since then? Well, we got married for one.” Ethan said, holding up his hand, which, sure enough, had a ring on his fourth finger.

“What?” Benny asked himself, looking down at a matching ring on his hand.

“Oh, shoot. I’ve gotta get to work. Remember, you have lunch with your mom today, 2:00 at Lotta Latte. Alright?”

“My mom?” Benny asked, hope and dread filling him at the same time. 

“Yeah. This is why I have to put things like this on your calendar. You’re always like ‘Oh I’ll remember, I don’t have to write it down.’ Then you forget.”

Ethan finished getting dressed and stood in front of Benny. There was something off about him, still. Not just his voice or the fact that he looked twenty-five. The seer gave the wizard a kiss goodbye and Benny knew what it was. 

He felt….empty. Like he was an idea of Ethan. 

The whole day, he was conflicted. He wanted his Ethan back, there wasn’t anything he wanted more….but his parents were here. Alive.

He just wanted this one lunch. He hadn’t seen them in ten years, since he was six years old. All of his memories were fuzzy, but he could tell his mother everything he’d ever wanted to tell her. And maybe see his dad too.

Just the one visit, then he’d get out of here,

 

* * *

Sarah had no idea what to do. Grandma was taking care of Ethan, who apparently needed to be constantly monitored in case he went catatonic.

She did the only thing she knew how to do when an emergency occurred, she called Erica. 

It took less than a minute for Erica to arrive, Sarah just didn’t expect her to bring Rory along. 

She thought that it would go slower with the the airhead vampire, but he was being uncharacteristically serious about all of it. At first he showed up and started making jokes, then they explained the situation and it just took one look at Ethan blankly staring with his haunting expression of pure panic and he was on board.

Grandma had gotten out the books on djinns, so they were all combing through all of them.

“Okay, djinns get their victims, poison them a bit, then trap them in their greatest dreams.” Sarah said.

“So what’s Benny’s greatest dream? I mean, he’s got his nerd relationship with Ethan, and us as friends. What more could he want?” Erica asked.

“His parents.” Sarah realized. “They died when he was little, it’s the only thing I can think of that he can only ever get in a dream.”

They went back to their reading after that.”Okay, this says that these djinns or whatever, they like to hang around abandoned houses and buildings or ruins, the more places to hide, the better.” Rory said. 

“Something about this isn’t right.” Erica added. “This, right here, says that they are very territorial creatures and don’t move from one spot to another unless they are either forced or their food supply runs out, which almost never happens because they aren’t a threat to supernatural creatures and they only need to feed once every three years. Something about this doesn’t make sense. There hasn’t been a djinn in Whitechapel in over 300 years.”

* * *

Benny took an hour to get ready, he was seeing his mom for the first time in ten years, he wanted to look good. It started with him both figuring out he wore a goatee and shaving it off. 

By the time he got to Lotta Latte, he was such a bundle of nerves that he was near a panic attack. 

His mother was sitting outside, in a sundress and sipping the same drink that was Benny’s own favorite; a half-caff low fat mocha chino.

He looked up at him and smiled, standing for a hug. 

Benny couldn’t stop himself from running into the hug, and held on for dear life once he got there. Everything about it felt so familiar, like a sip of water in a dry heat. It was the only thing he’d wanted with all his heart and hadn’t been able to get. And now he had his mom back. He felt like a kid again, and he couldn’t stop himself from crying into her shoulder.

He thought about it…..he needed to get back to his world, where they were still in high school and Ethan was real and things weren’t always okay but they were good.

Just…..just five more minutes with his mother, though.

* * *

After about three hours with google maps, they’d found the nine abandoned buildings in Whitechapel. Luckily, they were fairly close to one another in clusters of three. Unfortunately, they were all on different sides of town. 

“Okay, now we know where it should be, but how to we gank it?” Erica asked.

“I can help you with that. But I’m going to need Erica and Rory to watch over Ethan while Sarah and I get what you’ll need.” Grandma said. 

“Why can’t we come?”

“Because I need someone to watch over Ethan, and Sarah is the most responsible of all of you. Not even Benjamin knows about this, and you can get hurt if you touch the wrong thing.” Grandma led Sarah up to her room and into her closet, opening it to show an entire armory. 

“Woah.”

“Yes. You will need a silver blade, though none of you can touch the silver part, it will burn worse than the sun.” She handed Sarah two with wooden handles and took a third downstairs herself.

“What’s with the steak knives?” Erica said as soon as they got down the stairs. She had a facade of aloofness, but you could tell she was upset about the whole situation. She had readjusted Ethan’s head and had a hand on his shoulder. Rory was standing behind her with his hands on her shoulders. 

“These are silver,” Sarah said. “Don’t touch the blade.”

“And none of you try to bite it. Djinns can poison someone’s bloodstream with just a touch, trying to drink it’s blood will send it straight to the brain.”

“Got it, don’t touch the blade, no biting.” Rory said while Erica just pouted at the second rule. 

“ _ Fine _ . Let’s go.” 

They left in a flurry of speed.

* * *

Benny needed to get out. It had started as his greatest dream, but now he just wanted to see his Ethan again. He was starting to feel the effects of a life in this world, though it was just a day in this life. 

Everybody had started off so sweet, and he hadn’t wanted to let go of anything. Now his parents were telling him to sleep, and Ethan felt so empty. And his friends were upset with him. 

He’d locked himself in a closet, in what used to be the Morgan house. They’d started yelling when he’d started trying to get out. It was too much, he could feel himself slipping control. He was tempted to just give in, live here where he had his parents, where he was married to the love of his life.

Where everything was empty. 

He just didn’t know what to do. 

* * *

Erica had already looked through one warehouse. She would never admit it, but she was worried about her friends. She could freely admit that she cared about them, worried for them. She often acted like she didn’t care about them, but they were important to her. So far they had saved her from that evil cheerleader and two vampire nurses, and now the roles were reversed. 

She was just barely stepping into the second building, this one still had its walls up and boxes all around, like people just left it in the middle of packing up. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blur of blue and gripped the knife in her hand. As soon as she turned around, catching the djinn by the throat, she pressed the blade to her stomach.

“Please don’t kill me!” She cried.

“Why shouldn’t I? You kidnapped my friend.”

“I didn’t want to! He- he took my baby!”

“Who?”

“No… I don’t know who. But my family got a package the other day, h-here!” She pulled a picture from her pocket, it showed a little blueish boy in scraps of clothes, crouched on the floor with the same panicked expression Ethan wore. “It said that I needed to feed on either your friend or another boy, one with dark hair. I was going to let him go as soon as I got my little boy back, I promise.”

“Well, let him go now!”

“My...My baby. He's still not back yet.” She said, then got a text. She pulled out her phone, it told her that the child was returned to the family. “I’ll get him out right now!”

She went through the halls, Erica followed. Benny was there, upright, seemingly hanging from whatever was holding him up, or like he fell asleep standing up. His eyes were glowing blue from whatever magic was holding him there. There was an IV connected to him arm, collecting his blood in a saline bag. 

“Fix him!” Erica told the djinn. She didn't know what was going on, something definitely was, but her main focus was just getting the both of them out of there. 

The djinn did some sort of enchantment and, soon enough, Benny was waking up.

“Benny?” Erica asked.

“Ethan….” He said sluggishly. The vampire looked to the bag of blood, and the djinn seemed to understand what she was thinking.

“You can't reverse it. There's poison in the blood, it's how we feed.” She said, but didn't offer any other excuse or explanation. “I'm sorry. I didn't want to do this. We try to steer clear of here because of your vampire council. I wouldn't have if my little boy wasn't taken.”

“...I don't blame you. But….I don't want to see you or any djinns in Whitechapel. If I do. You will see just how protective I am of my friends.”

“Understood.” she said quickly, then disappeared in a flash of blue.

* * *

Erica sped her way back to the house, with Benny in tow, after she’d she called Sarah and Rory to let them know she'd rescued the wizard. 

Once she deposited the wizard on the couch, she ran back to her house. He had still lost a couple points of blood, even though he was now conscious enough to be out of whatever hellhole he’d been in. 

She had a mini fridge in her room, a place she kept a couple of pints of O- she’d stolen from the blood truck earlier that night.

She could always just get some on a date, Benny needed this right now. 

Sarah and Rory had just arrived by the time she got back. They looked like they were at a loss at what to do, Benny was still on the couch, laying there, unable to do much else. He was paler than was healthy for anyone. Ethan, on the other hand, was sprawled over the wizard, eyes a bit glassy, clutching to his best friend like his life depended on it.

The other vampires were a little ways away from the seer, looking almost frightened. Erica took a step towards them, but couldn't get close before Ethan started actually growling at her. Or maybe hissing was a better word. It was almost exactly like the sound she made when she used her fangs to intimidate people. 

She took one step closer and the sound got louder. Pushing her luck, she took another step, and Ethan took a swing at her. It barely connected with her hip, yet it swung her around like she was fighting her own kind. 

She was about to snap at him and, probably, fight him. But Benny, still pale, still didn't look like he should move if he could, he saw the blood bag and wrapped an arm around his boyfriend, instantly calming him down. 

He turned his arm, a silent plea for a transfusion. They were all stuck, none of them knew the procedure for this and knew they could mess everything up if they did this wrong. Luckily, Evelyn Weir to the rescue. 

“I've got what I need. Step aside, dear. I'm going to need a bit of space.” space she came in with a couple of hospital-grade disinfectant wipes and a tube with a needle on the end. She wiped down everything that she would be using and went to work. 

“How do you know how to do this?” Sarah asked.

“I was a nurse for thirty years. I'm just glad I kept my supplies.” she said. They all settled down to have a long night, each of them letting their parents know that they were spending the night at a friend’s house.

They were all worried out of their minds. Nobody said anything for hours, not even Rory. They just put on  _ Whose Line Is It Anyway  _ and tried not to think about the fact that their friend nearly died. 

Seven hours had passed since Benny was taken, two since the transfusion began. They didn't look at him much, didn't want to stare. But the quick glances over told all of them that he was much less pale and was moving more than he had previously been able. 

Ethan was still over Benny. Literally over his lap and clutching onto him. His eyes were focused now, less glassy, though they never left Benny's face unless they were closed. 

For his part, Benny was holding onto him with the arm he could use, careful to avoid the still-open wound from earlier that night. It was like they were in their own little world, and Erica was struck by how much her life had changed. 

Four months ago she was avoiding people in the halls and preparing for the premier of a movie filled with impossible creatures. Now she was one of those creatures. And she wouldn't give it up for the world, she never wanted to go back to her old life of being pushed around with only one friend. 

But she just now realized how she had grown, how they all had. Months ago, she’d had one friend and would've freaked out if Sarah had needed a blood transfusion. Now she had willingly given her food away so it could save her friend's life. Without blinking an eye.

It wasn't like they could take him to the hospital, though. They would ask questions, ones that couldn't be answered. How could they explain that to a hospital? My friend got attacked by a monster that likes to take out your blood and poison it. 

Like that would go over well.

* * *

> They could all tell when Benny and Ethan fully returned to themselves. The seer slid off of his boyfriend enough so that he was only laying next to him, Benny's grandma pulled the needle from her grandson’s arm and taped a cotton ball over the small wound, saying that they had another bag and she would tell them in the morning if they should use it, helped Benny redress Ethan’s arm wound (it had soaked through, he had been tense the whole night), then she went to bed. 

“Thank you.” Ethan said eventually, the first words spoken by any of the five of them in hours. They rang loud with the weight of them. “I know what you all did. I could see, I just...couldn't move. Thank you so goddamn much.” Ethan never lifted his head from Benny's chest, pressing them together as close as possible.

“You two probably want answers, don’t you?” Benny asked the two blonde vampires. “Why Ethan was so unresponsive and stuff.”

“I just assumed that's how you two were. I mean, you're a seer and everything, and they have the whole thing with objectives and stuff.” Erica said.

“Wait, how did you know about that?” Sarah asked.

“They tell you a whole bunch of stuff when you become a full vampire.” Rory said. 

“You knew too?” Sarah asked.

They just shrugged. 

“What happened with the djinn?” Ethan asked, and it was a fair question.

“We might have a bit of a problem with that.” She said, biting her lip. This was going to be a long conversation. It'd been almost ten hours since they had been trapped in a blood truck. It was 3:30 in the morning, and she needed to sleep.

“What kind of problem?” Benny asked, sitting up a bit more.

“The kind that's going to take a while, so we are going to need some sleep. Why don't you two reconnect in your room? We can take the couches.” Erica said. 

Months ago, they would've been shocked about her showing any kind of care or fondness for the geeks. But they'd been through a lot together, in the past months, in the past day. She wouldn't give up these guys for the world. 

Benny and Ethan walked up to the former’s room together, never fully letting go from one another. They needed the time alone, and they were glad that the others seemed to have noticed that.

After tonight, it wouldn't just be Benny, Ethan and Sarah. They had their own little group now. 

Tonight had changed them, just a little bit. Nothing would be drastically different. Erica would continue to pretend not to care, Rory would still follow her around like a dog on a leash, Sarah would still roll her eyes at their antics...but they would know something was different. 

They just needed to figure out what was going on in Whitechapel. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. This became a lot more violent and complicated than I intended. I wrote this one on my phone in a moving car, and I've read it over twice, but if you have questions I'd be happy to answer them.


	7. A Fucking 1200 Word Tangent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, theres a huge chunk near the beginning here that wasn't planned and takes up most of the chapter, I'm sorry....but I'm really not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, it's been a while. I've been super blocked ever since I went on a week long vacation to LA, then my computer charger started sparking and I had to throw that away and wait for the new charger, then I had to write the chapter and I was still blocked and this is a long way to say I'm sorry and I posted the last chapter on the start of the trip and I'm sorry

The events with the djinn were set aside, but not forgotten. After that night, the following days and nights had the seer and wizard clinging a bit more than normal. There was barely a minute in the day where they could be seen apart, and even then it was only because of their class schedules and seat placement.

 

Erica and Rory were starting to hang around them more, especially the former, seeing as she would usually rather die (again) than be seen socializing with them. But something had changed that night, something that made the five of them closer as a group instead of three people who didn’t know what they were doing and two who dropped in occasionally.

 

* * *

 

Erica was looking at a lot of things in a new light. She hadn’t told anybody how scared she had been when she looked at Benny’s body, strung up and lifeless. She had actually thought, for just a minute, that he had been dead and there was no way to get him back, that there was actually a dead body in front of her.

 

She had never seen a dead body, not in the traditional sense. Technically, vampires are dead, and she had definitely seen those, but she had never seen a body void of all life and light. Visions had passed behind her eyelids. Not like Ethan’s, these were more like memories. Memories of the dorky and ridiculous things Benny had done and it was in that moment she had realized how much the team of geeks actually meant to her. Not in any romantic sense, of course, but seeing the wizard the way he had been had made something like a switch flip.

 

It had taken nearly a full minute for Erica to come back to herself that day and actually hear the heartbeat, feint as it was.

 

Then she was filled with rage. This was her group, her.....flock, kind of. How dare anyone mess with the dorks that had become so important to her.

 

Once the djinn had explained the situation, she had been so confused. There was something or someone out there that was complicating their lives and almost killing them, for what? So he could get their attention?

 

It worked, and she wouldn’t be letting him get away with it.

 

* * *

 

Erica was in her room, a couple days after the event with the djinn, when she heard a knock on the door. There was really only a couple people it could be. Sarah, but she was supposed to be babysitting Jane tonight. It could be Benny or Ethan, but they had been recovering after everything that happened and hadn’t even left the latter’s room much. Rory was the last and most likely choice.

 

Though she acted like she hated him, they both knew that they were each other’s best friends. Well, Sarah was always going to be her number one but the blonde vampire was a close second.

 

She let him in, seeing as her parents were at work and wouldn't care either way. 

 

“What are you doing here?” She asked as soon as she opened the door, and found exactly who she'd expected.

 

“I came to see how you were doing.” Rory was absolutely serious, without even a smile on his face, this was a side of Rory that only came out when he was actually worried. Not wanting to make him worry more, she passed it off. 

 

“Shouldn’t you be with Thing 1 and Thing 2? They’re the ones that are actually fucked up about this whole thing.” She deflected.

 

“I know that they’re the ones that were affected the most about this, but I know that I’m still kinda shaken up about it. But, Erica, you were the one that found him. He didn’t look all too great when I saw him, I can’t imagine what he must’ve looked like when you found him, strung up and near death.”

 

The image flashed behind Erica's eyes. “Your point is?”

 

“My point is that you can trust me with whatever you’re feeling. You don’t need to keep it all bottled up, it’s perfectly fine for you not to be perfectly fine all the time.” Erica could feel her mask start to crack, everything crashing down on her at once and realizing that there wasn’t a person in the world she would trust more than the one standing in front of her. “I just came to check on you, you don’t have to tell me anything, but please tell me you’ll tell someone? Maybe Sarah? I know I’m not the first person you’d run to with your heart on your sleeve but you’ve got to get it out.” He made to turn around.

 

“Wait.” Erica said, Rory stopped and looked back at her. “Maybe….maybe you’re wrong and I _would_ like to talk to you.” She thought about everything that happened that night, the main image of Benny’s near-lifeless body just hanging there. The mask cracked enough for a tear to slip past her eyelashes and down her cheek, though she still kept a straight face. The she was glad today was one of the only days she decided not to wear makeup.

 

“Alright.” They stood there for about ten seconds before either of them said something.

 

“I’m going to put a movie in, why don’t you make some popcorn?” Erica suggested.

 

“Right, sure.”

 

Erica popped in one of her favorite movies, which was a surprise to not be Dusk, but instead Mulan.

 

It started up and Rory came out of the kitchen with the buttery snack in his hands.

 

Neither of them were paying attention to the movie, Rory was focused on Erica and Erica was lost in her own thoughts. At some point, everything caught up to her and she let out a sob, and her friend was there to catch her before she fell off the side of the couch.

 

She explained everything she had seen in that godforsaken warehouse. Everything she had been thinking about, all the images that were haunting her nightmares. She told Rory more than anybody had ever known about her, more than Sarah knew. Granted, they hadn’t talked much since she’d become a vampire, but it was still not an insignificant amount of information.

 

Rory, for his part, just listened and offered words of encouragement. He didn’t judge or offer advice, he just sat there and let her say her piece. And when she was done, the only thing he said was, “I’m glad you trusted me enough to say all that. I promise I won’t tell anyone else, and not just because I’m sure you’d rip my arm off.”

 

Erica started laughing at the last sentence, tears still streaming down her face, but for a completely new reason now.

 

That was when she decided that she’d rather be a part of this group and never be popular again than give it up.

 

* * *

 

 

“Remind me again why we can’t hang out today?” Ethan asked, sitting down at the lunch table, almost a week after the djinn incident.

 

“My grandma asked me to help out with selling a bunch of stuff from the attic. She said that anything I sold I would get to keep the money for. It’ll be nice to finally have some money in my wallet.”

 

“Stop making bets with a seer and that would happen more.” He said as the rest of the gang sat down.

 

“Are you guys flirting again?” Erica groaned.

 

“We’re already together, we don’t flirt.” Ethan defended.

 

“Yeah, you do.” Rory countered, then turned to Erica. “Oh, Benny.” He said in an overly high-pitched voice. “I want to talk and cuddle and be with you every night of the week. Every hour of the day. Every minute of the hour. Every second of the-”

 

“Okay, we get it.” Ethan said. “But that’s still not flirting. It’s just...being honest.” He said with a blush.

 

“Well isn’t that adorable? Two geeks more in love with each other than Battleship Galaxy.” Erica mocked.

 

“Okay, first of all, it’s Battlestar Galactica. Second of all…..” Benny trailed off.

 

“Do you not have another comeback?” She asked, a half-genuine/half-mocking smile on her face.

 

“Shut up.”

 

Everyone laughed except Benny, who was icing his bruised ego.

 

* * *

 

Ethan had been having a really weird day. First, his and Benny’s yearbook idea gets shut down. Then Hannah, who ran the yearbook, decided to use the camera that the wizard sold her instead of a regular one. That wasn’t the weird part, because he was sure that would’ve happened no matter what. But then Hannah had started going around being mean to people, including Ethan. Then she would come again, seconds later, being nicer than she’d ever been in her life.

 

He just hoped it was some sort of teenage hormone fluke, he really didn’t want to deal with another supernatural thing so soon.

 

* * *

 

Of course it was a supernatural thing. He’d heard of mood swings, but that usually didn’t also happen to give you the ability to teleport from one hall to another. To top it off, Benny got himself into trouble, again.

 

He should’ve known to put away the camera once his grandmother had told him to. After finding out about all the things that exist in the world, Ethan was willing to do nearly anything she told him to on principle. But Hannah had been willing to pay more than the price listed, so of course he sold it instead of bringing it back into the house.

 

It took all the strength Ethan had to not go into a full-blown panic attack when he found out Benny had made himself an evil twin. The only thing that had made him not go after (not evil) Hannah when he saw her was (not evil) Benny’s hand on his, the heartbeat under his fingers, telling him he was alright and it wasn’t her fault.

 

* * *

 

They ended up defeating the evil twins, but Ethan still hadn’t fully recovered from the kidnapping incident and this on top of that was leaving him a little raw. There was nothing to do once the danger was gone, nothing except be together.

 

It was difficult for Ethan to sort out what he was feeling. Nothing physical had happened to Benny, but at the same time, something sort of did. He had witnessed the evil twin get destroyed, that still looked like Benny, and it upset him greatly to see even someone who looked like him suffer.

 

It left him at a loss of what to do. He wanted to be alone with Benny, make sure he was fine. But he wanted to do that every night, every day, every time they saw each other, so he couldn’t tell if that feeling was heightened or not.

 

He also wanted to spend the night alone, for once in his life. He thought too much interaction would start to make him overprotective and he felt like he needed to think about what had happened.

 

But he also wanted to be with his friends. All of them, not _just_ Benny. Before anything happened with vampires and everything that goes bump in the dark, that thought would’ve only been Benny. That was his only true friend for the last nine years of his life, the one he could trust with everything. Within the past few months, that had expanded to include three more people; two vampires and a fledgeling.

 

They had been through so much together, very recently, very quickly. He would trust all of them with his life. They had all proven themselves to him, each in their own ways.

 

Sarah was someone who’d been with them since the beginning, a popular hottie who turned her exasperated looks towards them when they made a reference to nerd culture, but would fight with all her heart to keep the people of Whitechapel safe from whatever creature they knew nothing about.

 

Rory was kiddish most of the time, but he knew when to shut up and get serious, for the most part. He was ferociously loyal to any and all people he considered worthy, and, barring a sudden and unexpected shift to what they all knew of each other, never let someone go, even if they wanted to be. He played dumb a lot of the time, but he failed to hide his true intelligence from their group.

 

Erica was the only one Ethan had the smallest doubt about. He hadn’t known her for very long, and the time he did know her, most of the time she seemed to be ready and willing to blow them off for any chance she could get to feed or date. But he trusted her much more now than before. Before, he wouldn’t have been able to count on her to do much, unless something was in it for her. But with this past week, she had saved Benny (a _huge_ plus in his book), given up her ‘good’ blood for him (without being asked (bigger plus)), and had consistently made due on her plans with them and hadn’t even been on a date since the djinn incident.

 

They were the only people Ethan _really_ trusted, except Benny but he didn’t count in this case, special circumstance and all. But even with all that information filed away in his head, he still didn’t know if he’d be able to handle so many people at one time. Ethan’s head was everywhere, he definitely wouldn’t be able to make good conversation, considering he was still conflicted between pain at watching Benny disappear and relief that they didn’t take over the real Benny.

 

In the end, he didn’t need to make a decision.

 

“Alright, losers. Pack some clothes and a toothbrush because I just got the okay from my parents and we are doing a movie marathon tonight.” Erica said.

 

“Like a sleepover?” Benny asked.

 

“No, I’m going to watch movies with you guys and kick you out at three in the morning.”

 

“I don’t know if my parents would let me.” Ethan said. “After all, they know I’m with Benny, but they’re still kinda iffy on letting me sleep over with girls present. You know, the ‘they’re teenagers and will wanna screw everything they see’,”

 

All of them made a face at even then suggestion. “Just tell them you’re at Benny’s.”

 

“But what if they call Grandma?” Benny asked. “They’ve done it before.”

 

“Then ask her to cover for you. There’s easy ways to do this, just tell her not to pick up the phone for his parents and tell them she was asleep later.” Erica said.

 

“You have a lot of experience lying to parents, don’t you?” Ethan asked, pulling out his phone to text his parents.

 

Erica just smiled innocently and asked, “Whatever do you mean?” Before Sarah pulled them into a conversation about what kind of movies to watch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, not my best work. I'm sorry, I tried, but I think I missed the target a bit


	8. Immortals (Fall Out Boy)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They say we are what we are,  
> But we don't have to be,  
> I'm bad behavior but I do it in the best way,  
> I'll be the watcher (watcher) of the eternal flame,  
> I'll be the guard dog of all your favorite dreams,  
> I am the sand in the bottom half of the hourglass (glass, glass)  
> (Ooh)  
> I try to picture me without you but I can't  
> 'Cause we could be immortals, immortals  
> Just not for long, for long,  
> And live with me forever now,  
> You pull the blackout curtains down,  
> Just not for long, for long,  
> Sometimes the only pay off for having any faith,  
> Is when it's tested again and again everyday,  
> I'm still comparing your past to my future,  
> It might be your wound but they're my sutures,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't been posting. I've just kinda lacked motivation and then I've been really busy this past month. I haven't given up or forgotten about you guys!

 

That night with all of them really helped Ethan. It let him be close to Benny without the pressure of saying something meaningful. It let him be alone with his thoughts yet surrounded by friends to pull him out if he started to lose himself. 

 

It was exactly what he needed. 

 

The coming school days were hard, though. Ethan saw Hannah a bit more, but he got a little overprotective of Benny when she was around. He noticed, and told him it was okay, that he was okay. It helped a lot.

 

Of course there was another thing that had to happen the next week.

 

They had just been walking down the hallway, trying to make nice conversation with Mr. G and- Ethan should really just learn that he was a seer and should stop touching things. 

 

As soon as he touched the damn trophy, a ghost just had to pop out of it. And of course Benny noticed. 

 

**“Man does it feel good to be out of that thing!”** The mystery ghost said.

 

Ethan just stood there, staring at him, but to anyone else, it would look like he suddenly got very nervously interested in his best friend’s hair. 

 

Benny got them out of the situation without making Ethan say anything, which was good, because his seer side was dumbfounded. Half of him thought this weird ghost man was a threat, which made him protective, and the other half of him couldn’t see how a ghost could be a threat, which kept him calm. He was very conflicted. 

 

Benny grabbed Ethan’s arm and pulled him out of that hallway and to their lockers. “E. What is going on? What did you see?”

 

“I’m still kinda seeing it.”

 

The wizard looked around. “Seeing what? A vision?”

 

**“Ah, now this is upsetting. You’re saying the only one who can see me is this scrawny little toothpick? Not even his twinkle-toes sidekick can?”**

 

“Hey, careful how you speak of him.” Ethan said to the ghost man, but the rest of the world saw him say it to empty space.

 

“Careful how who speaks of who?”

 

Ethan looked at his boyfriend. “ _ Him _ . The tall sporty guy in a basketball uniform?”

 

Benny looked around. “Are you going crazy?”

 

**“No, but I might if this is my only entertainment. Face it, kid, there’s only one person who can see me, and that’s you.”**

 

“Benny, please tell me you see who I’m talking about.”

 

Once again, Benny looked around and saw nothing. “Sorry, man.”

 

“Damn. Well, apparently, that trophy I touched had a ghost living in it and now he’s out and calling us names.”

 

**“You can call me Coach Ed.”**

 

“Coach Ed, sorry.”

 

Benny looked conflicted between surprised and resigned to the fact that this was normal to them now. “OOkkay. Well, I’m sure he wants something and once he gets that, he’ll just go back to where ever he came from.”

 

The ghost had started walking around and found something he didn’t like.  **“What is this? Why is my trophy the only one in here? And why is it being taken out?”**

 

Ethan had flinched at the sudden yelling from a person only he could see or hear.

 

“Hey, are you okay?” His best friend asked.

 

“You know? I’m not sure. I might be going crazy because here is a gym teacher who died thirty years ago and nobody else can see him so he’s either a hallucination or a ghost and at this point I don’t know which one is more likely.”

 

Benny laid a hand on his boyfriend’s cheek, causing the other boy to look up at him. “You’re not going crazy. It’s totally possible for it to be a ghost. And hey, you’re a  _ seer _ . Seeing things others don’t is kinda in the title.”

 

“I...I don’t know, Benny. Do you ever wish we could go back to when we didn’t have to deal with any of this?”

 

“I’ll admit, it gets to be a little much. But, in the end, we got together because of all this. If we weren’t, you know, what we are, who knows what we would’ve done with our lives? You might not have invited me over after that day in the supermarket, we might not have been friends, I might not have someone as amazing as you in my life. So, do I sometimes wish that all we had to worry about was homework? Yes. Do I wish that we weren’t both in danger once a week? Definitely. Would I give you up for all of that? Never. Whatever is going on that I can’t see, tell me about it and we can work together.”

 

**“Awe. Are you two going to braid each other’s hair after this? Damn, when did men lose their dignity? Now we have these two pansies as the main saving grace for this town. I wonder how it hasn’t burned to the ground.”**

 

“I thought I told you to watch your mouth.” Ethan said, turning his head toward the coach.

 

**“Oh? What would you do? It’s not like you have any sort of muscle mass or coordination or, I don’t know, experience. You two are exactly like the nerds I used to beat up when I was your age. And guess what? They deserved it too.”**

 

Ethan deflated a bit, and then smirked. This ghost had no idea who he was messing with. “Do you even know what I am?”

 

**“I dunno, psychic? I never studied up on the supernatural, never had an interest until I became one of ‘em. Why?”**

 

“Doesn’t matter.” 

 

**“Are you not going to tell me?”**

 

“No, I don’t think I want to.” Coach Ed flicked his fingers and pantsed him. “Like that would get me to say.” Ethan laughed. “I’ve been dealing with kind of stuff for ten years.”

 

He grabbed Benny and started walking to their next class, fully aware of the Coach trailing after him. 

 

* * *

 

They were in Benny’s house. Coach Ed was stuck at the door, unable to get in as they explained the situation to Grandma. She had wards up all over the house against hostile creatures, keeping out the ghost they didn’t want inside the house. 

 

“So you touched the trophy and he just popped out?” She asked

 

“Yeah, I have no idea how I did it, but I did and he’s been driving me nuts.”

 

“Oh, you didn’t do anything, sweetie. He locked onto your energy and pulled himself through.”

 

“He told me he wouldn’t go away until we won the school another trophy.”

 

“Then why don’t you win the school a trophy?”

 

“A  _ sports _ trophy, Grandma. I might be able to do chess or robotics. But something that involves strength or speed, those aren’t really my strong suits.”

 

“Well…”

 

“I’m not going to put Benny in danger just to win a dumb trophy.” 

 

“That’s not what I was going to suggest. I was going to say that you are very fast, in actuality. You come up with the best plans at the drop of a hat, and they have worked out as of yet.”

 

“Well-”

 

“Hold on. Benjamin, what is your take on all this?”

 

“What? Oh… uh… I don’t know. I kinda wish that I could see and hear him too, that way I could help more.”

 

“You don’t want to know what he’s saying.” The seer said. 

 

“But I do, E. Some of what he says hurts you. I don’t like seeing you hurt just as much as you don’t like seeing me hurt.”

 

“It’s really nothing-”

 

“But I can’t tell you he’s wrong if I don’t know what he’s saying.”

 

“But I don’t want you to hear it because then you’ll be hurt and I…..I just can’t hurt you, Benny.” Ethan said, eyes downcast. “I can’t say the things he says.”

 

“I might have a solution.” Grandma stated. 

 

“You do?” Ethan asked. 

 

“Yes. I’ve wanted to bring it up over the past week, but this is the perfect time to do so. Ethan, would you be willing to show Benny what you’ve seen?”

 

Ethan sighed. “Yes. I know we should do this together, but I don’t want to repeat it.”

 

“Then I have something I want you both to try. I promise it won’t hurt either of you.” They both agreed. “Ethan, take Benny’s hands in yours. Now both of you close your eyes.

 

“Take a deep breath and relax. It’s only the three of us, nothing else and no one else is here. Take another deep breath. Ethan, think about Benny. Think about your connection to him. Think about everything you’ve been through together and what you feel from him. Not  _ about  _ him,  _ from _ him. You feel pain when he feels pain. Not all of that is your own. You feel happy when he does. Not all of that is your own. Seers and their charges share a powerful connection. Find it.”

 

“I’ve got it.”

 

“Good. Hang onto that. Benny you should be able to find the same thing. It won’t be as obvious as it was for Ethan, but it should be there. If you can find it, this will go much easier.”

 

After a minute, Benny responded. “I found it.”

 

“Okay. Ethan, keep that connection, it’s open right now. You can’t read each other’s thoughts, but you can send them between each other. Ethan, think about your interactions with Coach Ed. Form a clear picture in your mind. Now send that picture through your connection to Benny. Benny, keep your mind open. He won’t be able to send anything unless you accept it. You will feel an odd pressure, perhaps, but you can’t fight against it.” She knew they had done it when she heard them both gasp and watched them grip each other’s hands tighter. 

 

“.....Wow.” Was all Ethan could say. He could feel everything. It wasn’t like the ‘open’ connection before, before they actually sent anything. He could feel everything. The anger at what the ghost said, the need to say none of it was true, the affection, the slight depression of both of them constantly being in harm’s way. But, overshadowing everything, was the love Benny felt for him. The absolute  _ need _ to keep them from getting in too much trouble. The want to just bring them to a place where neither of them could get in trouble anymore and they could just be with each other. He felt it all and it chased away any self-deprecating thoughts.

 

Benny was in a similar state. He watched the entire scene go down. From the moment the ghost came from the trophy, watching and hearing everything he said until they walked into the house and Coach Ed couldn’t get in. He felt all the emotions that came with it. The desire to fight the ghost, the frustration at not being able to do so, the need to protect Benny in any way possible. The hate for the bullies that made fun of them, the injustice that they were called upon to deal with all this, but most of all, the absolute love he held for the wizard. 

 

“Okay boys, I’m sure you’d both love to stay there forever, but you both need to come out of there. Come on, detangle yourself from each other and come back to yourselves. If you don’t within five minutes, I’m going to have to use a spell to force you to, and I can’t promise that that won’t hurt.” She continued to encourage them until they opened them in unison. 

 

She left the room, leaving them to sit there and look into each other’s eyes. Benny was slightly tearful, and Ethan wasn’t too far behind. They didn’t speak, just sat with their knowledge. 

 

When Grandma came back into the room, Benny was curled into Ethan’s side, with the seer’s arm wrapped around him and his head resting on top of his boyfriend’s. 

 

“I take it you both enjoyed that experience?”

 

“You could say that.” Ethan said quietly. 

 

“Good. Seers are special like that. Benny wouldn’t be able to do that with anyone else, but he can with you because you two are already tied together, and have been your whole lives. You, Ethan, could probably show other people your visions eventually, but it will always be easiest and most intense with my grandson.”

 

“Don’t get me wrong, Grandma. This was….amazing. But what about our little ghost problem?”

 

“Well I guess you’ll have to win a trophy.”

 

“And we are back to square one.”

 

* * *

 

Benny and Ethan tried every sport. Basketball, football, tennis, swimming, even golf. He just wasn’t good at any of them. They were ready to give up when Sarah sat next to them at the lunch table. 

 

“Ugh. I hate that Kurt Lockner guy. You know, the wrestler? He keeps asking me out and will not take no for an answer. Guys just can’t take a hint, or a giant, blinking, neon pink sign if it isn’t what they want.”

 

“Hmm. Can’t relate.” Benny said. Sarah just hit him with a glare and an eyeroll. Benny winked. 

 

“B, that’s it!”

 

“What? You want to ask out Kurt Lockner?”

 

“No. Wrestling. If I can take out Kurt, then we’ll get a trophy and Coach Ed will go away.”

 

“OOkkkay.” Sarah said. “I know you’re a seer and you’re all macho when it comes to Benny, but this is a  _ championship wrestler _ . Who, might I remind you, doesn’t like you very much. What makes you think you can beat him?”

 

“I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

 

* * *

 

It was the championships today. Ethan was supposed to go up against Kurt. He had a whole plan to get him into a position with his hands free to tickle him, but that went out the window pretty quickly.

 

He was currently kneeled on the floor with his hands being held behind his back. He couldn’t move much and his shoulders were starting to strain. He could hear Benny from the sidelines, encouraging him. He looked up and could see the want on his face, the want to get them both out of there. That was when Kurt started talking.

 

“Awe look at that. Your little pansy boyfriend is cheering you on. You should’ve known that a couple of faggots wouldn’t be able to beat me.”

 

Ethan could take being called names, but he needed to do this for his own sanity, and, by extension, Benny’s. If he went crazy, he didn’t know what would happen to the wizard. That thought, combined with the f-word he hated so much, filled Ethan with enough rage to pull his arm free and knock Kurt back. 

 

He somehow used that anger to get enough leverage to be able to move Kurt onto his back and pin him with his knees before Kurt even had half a though to fight back. The referee came next to them and tapped the mat three times to signal that Ethan had won. 

 

People came up to congratulate him, but nothing was better than the hug Benny gave him. Coach Ed still hadn’t want to go back, claiming supernatural strength as an unfair advantage, making his victory void, but a portal opened up and sucked him back through. 

 

That night, the whole gang was hanging out at Ethan’s house, and Ethan could feel a slight pressure on what he had started calling his ‘mind shield’, the defensive wall he needed to lower in order to let Benny see what Coach Ed had been doing. He let down that shield, just a little, and felt a burst of pride and love from the boy sitting next to him, his beautiful boyfriend. 

 

He just curled a tighter around him and they continued to watch the movie. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hated writing that word. The f-word. Ugh. I hate seeing it and writing it and hearing it, but it makes for a perfect mild angst. 
> 
> What? Introducing major plot points and abilities that really don't need to be a thing? Whhhattt?

**Author's Note:**

> Know what? I'm proud of it.


End file.
